When The 'Stream Fades
by Angel Shadow
Summary: It's best if you see the Mark Hamill/ Bill Paxton film "Slipstream" before reading this fanfic or you might get lost. What would of happened if Will Tasker didn't die in that crash!!
1. Default Chapter

Tittle: When The 'Stream Fades  
  
Author: AngelShadow  
  
E-Mail: AngelShadow_2@hotmail.com  
  
Rating: R rating for language in the first chapter. The following chapters get a bit risque!! So if you're under the age of 18, turn back now!!!  
  
Disclaimer: This story was written just for fun and is not an attempt to make money or infringe on any copyrights or trademarks. Some characters belong to myself and a few do not (Will Tasker, Kit Belitski, Byron, and Matt Owens). Not much was given on the character's backgrounds in the movie "Slipstream" so I worked with what little I had. It's my very first fanfic so be constructive and voice your true opinion, but I can due without the nastiness. Which means, 'Veterans' don't knock the 'Novice', you had to start somewhere also! Thanks.  
  
Note: This takes place directly after the final scene in the movie, "Slipstream". The writings in between the asterisks (**) are entries from Ania's personal diary.  
  
Chapter I  
  
** Day 967  
  
"I look into the eyes of God !"  
  
That is what I heard the survivor yell out, over and over again as he agonized in pain. Zerod, Jacob, Helen, and myself found him after we all witnessed the horrific crash ! It was unbelievable even for the human eye to see !! I mean, there was twisted metal everywhere from what it looked like a two seater glider. And if someone were with him in the glider, it was quite obvious that he, she, or it didn't live or wasn't nearly as fortunate as this guy were !  
  
Helen and I were out looking for a bunch of her herbs so she could concoct it into some sort of cooling lubricant for some of the older men's joints and ailments she would sell on the side from being an actual doctor, when we heard a dying engine up above.  
  
When we looked up towards the west, that was when we saw the two seater, smoking and going down towards the Liar's Slope. Then, just when we had expected it to lift at the last minute like all these other daredevil glider pilots out there would do, it just crashed into Liar's Slope and then bursted into flames!  
  
Needless to say, it scared the hell out of myself and Helen. Jacob and Zerod came running up just as the glider bursted into flames. Jacob said that he had saw the glider just before it had crashed and said that he had saw someone moving around inside. Even perhaps, he had saw two people. We all agreed that no one survived that but then we all agreed to go and check for survivors, if any at all.  
  
By the time that we had gotten there, it was a wonder that the man, who happen to of been thrown from the glider, had survived even one second of that crash.  
  
And he looked hideous !  
  
Blood covered what wasn't burnt ! If it weren't for the majority of the clothing that he had been wearing, presumably due to the recent Slipstream storms, his body would of suffered from massive burns !  
  
Zerod and Jacob measured the crash site and then how far the man had been thrown. Get this: 150 feet !! And all that had been broken on him was his left arm and left leg ! And he kept muttering 'I look into the eyes of God !' until he passed out from his injuries. I'll let you know more later after we finish wrapping him up.  
  
Bye.**  
  
One hour earlier:  
  
"Dear Jesus in Heaven !", Zerod said as he picked up one end of their makeshift stretcher. "He's lucky to even be alive !"  
  
"'Blessed' is more like it !", Helen said as she stood next to the stretcher still checking over the man who had regained consciousness again and had began to mutter to himself, completely out of it.  
  
"Where do you supposed he came from ?", the younger male, Jacob asked as he picked up the foot end of the stretcher.  
  
Helen shook her head and said, "It doesn't matter where he's from or how he got here ! Right now, we need to get him to the hospital and treated."  
  
Zerod nodded his head in agreeance. "I agree with you, Helen. We should try and help him. Or what little is left of him. Let's go."  
  
The young woman that was with their group hadn't said a word. She had taken a very good look at the fallen pilot and frowned thinking that there was no way that this man would live after this.  
  
But she said nothing as the others began to depart from the crash site that she was now investigating. Even though she was no Constable, she knew how to investigate a scene. But knowing Constable Gregor, he was just being woken up out of his afternoon drunken stupor and being told about the crash !  
  
She saw something that had caught her eye. The burned long leather coat that Zerod had taken off of the man. As she picked it up, her free hand went into the front pocket and felt an item. When she pulled it out of the pocket, the young woman found a leather billfold.  
  
"Ania ? Hurry, dear ! I will need your help !", Helen called back behind her as they started towards their town. After looking over the man, she then added, "He's going to need all the help he can get !"  
  
"I'm coming, Helen !", the young woman named Ania said.  
  
She placed the billfold in her coat pocket, folded the burnt leather coat across her arm and then, took off to catch up to the others.  
  
As they walked the crash survivor through town to the two story facility that was the town's hospital for over the past 72 years, many people who were supposedly doing their daily shopping and working had paused to look at the poor man.  
  
This annoyed Helen and she removed her scarf and unfolded it. She then draped it across his face to keep them from making faces at the injured man.  
  
"Thank goodness that the children are all in school or they would just turn this into a wounded parade of some sort !", Helen said to Ania.  
  
Ania smiled and said, "But can you blame them ? Word just got around about the crash."  
  
"I know. But do they have to make faces ?"  
  
"Well, they're dealing the best they know how, considering the circumstances.", Ania shrugged.  
  
They worked fast on him and by the time midnight had came around, they realized that, miraculously, this man wasn't as burned as badly as they had thought. Only 35 percent of his body was burned. And 34 percent were second degree burns. Only one percent of his burn was third degree and that was at the lower left side of his back. The rest of his injuries came from the broken left arm and cracked bone in his left leg and the bruises on his face, neck, and chest. But from what they could tell from what little machinery they had, he had a very bad concussion which had left him in a momentary coma.  
  
"Well.", Helen said as she rolled down her sleeves looking at the now bandaged and sedated man. "That wasn't exactly what I had in mind, seeing that he looked worst than his injuries really were."  
  
"Judging by the impact of that crash scene, there was nothing salvageable left and he shouldn't of survived.", Zerod said as he stood next to the foot of the bed.  
  
"But he did.", Helen reminded him.  
  
Zerod nodded in concede. "That he did. How ? No one will know until he comes to and is able to talk to us."  
  
Ania had assisted Helen as Zerod watched and helped in what little he knew about tending to a patient. Still, she had remained quiet throughout, helping Helen treat and wrapping the man's burns and then helping her, along with Zerod, set the man's left leg and arm in a cast.  
  
"We can call it a night. I have monitors on him and if he wakes up, I will be the first to know because I have his monitors hooked up to my apartment computers downstairs. Ania ? Dear, you look a bit peaked."  
  
Ania shook her head as she looked at Helen and Zerod. "No, I'm okay. But it is late and I wanted to do a bit of reading before I went to bed but it looks like that I will do the reading tomorrow when I have my lunch. Uh, will you be needing me anymore this evening ?"  
  
Helen looked around.  
  
"No, dear. Go ahead and go home for the night. I will give you your wake- up call at around 10 o'clock, dear. Okay ?"  
  
Ania frowned a bit as she asked, "Ten o'clock ? Why so late ?"  
  
"There hasn't been that many in this week with any major injuries. I should fair well on my own until you arrive.", Helen told her as she lowered the lights in the room. "Besides, Tess and Dora start the early shift so I will have help until you arrive."  
  
Ania nodded, almost hesitantly. "Okay. Very well."  
  
Ania went up to Helen and kissed her cheek. Zerod patted her on the shoulder.  
  
"Good night, you two. Sleep tight.", the younger woman told them.  
  
They both tell her 'goodnight' and she walks out after looking at the 'John Doe' laying up in the bed bandaged and comatose.  
  
Ania never bothered to mention that she had took the burnt leather coat home with her.  
  
__________________  
  
She walked into her small dwelling and closed the door.  
  
It was nice and she felt that she had made out like a bandit in the process snagging this freshly dug out space just two weeks after deciding to stay here in Currentburg Township over four and a half years ago.  
  
Her place consisted of a large living area, kitchenette, a bathroom with a tub, and a bedroom large enough for a queen sized bed, closet, and a dresser drawer. It was just her and she didn't mind being alone. She was one of the many single young adults in the town that consisted of about 2,500 people. And many families lived on the outskirts of the main village. But not that far away. But there were three kinds of young adults in the township: the nice ones, the bad asses, and the ones who would slip up every once in a while.  
  
Ania was one of the good ones. And she made sure that she stayed away from the bad ones who would lurk around town in the late afternoon and the dark. But usually, they would stick more towards the saloon eateries that stayed open late most nights, playing music until the wee hours of the morning.  
  
She had always wanted to go to one of those places just to see how it was but she never knew anyone that would take her. Ania had received a number of offers over the past couple of years by a number of guys but they were never her type. Dirty, seedy, and grubby just wasn't her type. She did have a number of friends and people she knew and that was about it. After work, she would head home and that was it. But alot of her time was spent studying under Helen for the past two years at the hospital. She wasn't looking to become a doctor but a nurse. But then again, Ania had alot of dreams that she had wanted for herself. She just wasn't sure after being alive for the past 30 years which ones to pursue and which ones to put on the shelf.  
  
** Day 968  
  
Okay, this is what I know about the mystery guy that we found:  
  
His name is William Tasker. And he's a law official from Downstream. He's 44 years old and was born in a very tough part of the Downstream according to the birthplace info on his i.d. card. I've heard of Sturam Sector but the few times that I were Downstream, I would of never ventured down in that area !  
  
Hell no !!  
  
Maybe he was a renegade lawman on the run, himself, from a bounty hunter. Whose to say ?!  
  
Anyhow, I need to curb that wild ass attitude on me before I end up down at one of those trashy saloons on the east end.  
  
This Tasker guy is 5 feet 8 inches, 180 pounds, with blue eyes, blond hair, and type A positive blood. I got a really good and long look at him and I have to admit that he, under his bruises, looked like a very cute guy ! But like the saying goes, 'Never judge a book by it's cover !' He'd probably open his mouth and be this total complete bastard ! What can you do ?!  
  
Anyhow, Jacob gave me that look again today, like he's expecting something from me just because I am a woman and he is a man and we're both around the same ages and the same color. You know, he's a nice guy but I'm just not interested in him. Not in that way. I know that there isn't that many black people here in the township, 280 to be exact but he's just not my type. How can I even express this to him without being rude about it ? Let's just hope that it doesn't come down to that.  
  
I'm tired. And my mind is trying to wind itself down even though it's on this Tasker lawman. I just need to sleep, for now. He's in a momentary coma and he won't be going anywhere, at least, not for tonight. Bye. **  
  
__________________  
  
** Day 1004  
  
Okay, this man is never waking up !!  
  
It has been over a month since he crashed here and he hasn't stirred yet. He has moved a finger and he has even twitched but since arriving here at the hospital, he hadn't opened his eyes nor has he utter a word.  
  
I have given up on the suspense of the whole thing seeing that he doesn't want to wake up !  
  
Helen has assigned me to be his aide for the next couple of weeks seeing that there hasn't been much to do at the hospital. Truthfully, I think there isn't any more that she could show me for now and needs me out of her hair. She said that I am ready to take the official tests for Registered Nurse but when I will get Downstream is beyond me. We don't have a pilot for the town since Caraboo died a few months ago. He was the only one who was capable of flying Downstream against the Slipstream storms and the trip would take a few days. Maybe I should hop on one of the drop off flights that passes through once a month or every other month, depending on the time of year. But then again, only God knows when I will make it back to Currentburg Township again.  
  
Oh, well ! I just have to keep wondering which dreams to hold on to and which ones to put to rest.  
  
More, if any, on Tasker later. Bye. **  
  
__________________  
  
The reaction from the Lawman, which was what everyone was calling him now, was excellent, as of today. Anyone else would of considered it a 'breakthrough' but Ania called it a mistake and an embarrassing one, at any costs !  
  
His bandages were now off but his left arm and leg was still in their casts. But Ania still had to do the bit of physical therapy that she was taught to give patients in this state.  
  
She had to move around his right leg and arm to keep up the circulation in them. And as of the third week, she had began to play music while moving the patient around. Nothing that would pound the walls and wake the dead but nice soothing music. And she would play it low.  
  
As she stood on the right side of the bed, she had started at his right foot and worked her way up his leg. She lifted his right leg and bent it at the knee. Slowly, she lowered his leg to the bed and then massaged his thigh. That was when her hand, clearly by mistake, brushed against his crotch, twice.  
  
It had happened so quick that it had startled her for a second and she drew her hand back, quickly. She looked away from his crotch, feeling her cheeks grow exceedingly warm from embarrassment.  
  
"Oh, my God ! I am so sorry.", Ania whispered over the music. "I didn't mean to rub, I mean, touch you there."  
  
When she glanced over at his crotch again, she saw a slight bulge there that wasn't there before. She jumped again, feeling even more embarrassed than she were before.  
  
"Oh, that can not be good ! Okay. Therapy's over for the day.", she said as she reached down to the foot of the Lawman's bed and pulled his covers up over his legs, carefully over the lower half of his body and up to his chest.  
  
"That's quite alright.", Ania heard and her whole body froze at the sound of the hoarse sounding voice.  
  
She looked up to see that William Tasker had awaken from his coma and his eyes were drowsily open and looking at her. Ania's mouth gaped, unable to say or think of what to do next.  
  
She swallowed and then said to him, "You're awake ?"  
  
"I am. I guess.", he told her.  
  
"And just how long have you been awake ?", she asked him as she folded her arms across her chest, trying her best to push their conversation away from what had just happened.  
  
"Well, I woke up sometime last night. And, then, again this morning. And just a few seconds ago, when I was 'roused' out of my sleep.", he said. And if she weren't mistaken, Ania could of swore that there was some hidden sarcasm behind his last sentence because he wore a semi smirk.  
  
Well, it's official, he hadn't even muttered a full paragraph and he is now deemed a jerk in her book !  
  
Ania squinted at him and said, "You weren't 'roused'. It was a simple mistake. I brushed against you, by mistake."  
  
Now, he smiled at how defensive this woman was acting. "Well, it's been so long for me I wouldn't know a mistake from an actual invitation, nowadays."  
  
Her squint lightened a bit at his quip and with her own sarcasm, Ania said, "Right. I'll go get your doctor. Try and stay awake long enough."  
  
"If you say so.", he told her as he watched her walk out of the room he was in.  
  
He should of been embarrassed much more than she were. He was the one who had 'peeked' at the mere touch of her hand. But for some reason, he wasn't. There was more to it.  
  
Will was half asleep when the young woman had came in to give him his physical therapy. He could of told her then that he were awake. But once she had pulled the covers off of him, that had sent a vibe through Will from the start. One that he shouldn't of had but due to the type of music that was playing in the background, music that he would listen to to unwind after a long bounty, at home, alone, was what had calmed his whole body. Her hand massaging and working up his leg was another thing.  
  
Her hands were warm and soft. And as they made their way up his leg and closer to his crotch, that, right there, had triggered him. The reason her hand had brushed him was because he had already had a slight erection from her hands on him, alone. And it was the God honest truth, 'Men basically have two heads: The big one between their shoulders and small one between their legs. And it were usually the small one that did all the thinking !'  
  
But the fact that the young woman doing his therapy happen to of been quite attractive was an added bonus ! But Will also knew that he had to apologize to her for that. He had embarrassed her, at her expense.  
  
But when the door opened, an older woman walked in with an older man behind her.  
  
"Mr. Tasker, it is a pleasure to finally see you awake !", the woman told him.  
  
"I'm surprized to even be alive much more awake.", he said with his gruff sounding voice.  
  
"After the crash we witnessed, we are more surprized than you are, Mr. Tasker.", the older gentleman said.  
  
"Was I the only person you found ?", Will asked.  
  
Both the man and woman's eyes grew a bit concerned. "Were there any others?", the woman asked.  
  
Will paused for a second and then shook his head. "No. Now that I think about it, I was the only one. My thoughts are still fuzzy. How long have I been here ? A few days ?"  
  
The older man smiled and said, "Try a good month and a half."  
  
Both watched as the man's eyes grew a bit at the time that had lapsed while he was in his coma. There was no way that he would be able to track down that android and get him back now.  
  
"You had suffered from a number of second degree burns and one third degree burn on the lower left side of your back. You also have an arm and leg on the mend. Your left arm was broken in two different places. Your left leg only suffered a crack in your femur bone. Nothing major as far as that goes.", she told him.  
  
"Hm. I've noticed that. I was wondering why I weren't able to lift my left arm and leg.", Will told them.  
  
"You also suffered from a concussion that had placed you in a momentary coma over the past couple of weeks."  
  
"Seeing that I've been out for the past six weeks, 'momentary' doesn't seem the most appropriate word for it. But I am grateful to you and all that you've done for me.", he said to take the edge off of his voice.  
  
"I'm sure that you would like to sit up and start getting situated. I'll have Ania bring you some extra pillows to prop you up some. By the way, I am Helen and this is Zerod. I run the hospital here that you are in. It's not as up to date as the hospitals Downstream are but we make do with what we have and the best we can. We have travelers who brave the Slipstream and stop into our town every so often."  
  
Will's eyebrows went up. "Where is here ?"  
  
"Here,", Zerod told him, "is Currentburg Township. It's not a metropolis but we do fine for just being five honest steps above a shanty. We have just above 2,500 individuals living here in the township and a few more hundreds surrounding us."  
  
"Currentburg ? I've been through here before. Unfortunately, it was on business.", he said.  
  
Helen excused herself as she looked over Will's vitals and then walked out to look for Ania. Zerod and Mr. Tasker seemed to of found a subject to conversate on and left the two men to that.  
  
She had looked down the hall and frowned.  
  
"Ania ?"  
  
After a brief minute, Ania stuck her head out of the lounge door and looked at Helen.  
  
"Yes, Helen ?"  
  
"Would you be a dear and fetch Mr. Tasker a few pillows and help him sit up in his bed. I am sure that he is tired of laying down. I am going to go and get him some soup and crackers.", Helen told her as she headed down the hallway.  
  
Before Ania could ask for a different task, Helen was gone.  
  
Ania sighed, deeply and said to herself, "Oh, well. What more damage could possibly be done now that he was awake for good ?"  
  
When she walked in the room with two large pillows, her eyes immediately locked with Will's for a brief second and she then looked at Zerod. Thankful that he was there.  
  
"Oh, uh, Will, this is Ania. She is Helen's assistant here at the hospital. And if we can ever get her Downstream to take the Registered Nurse exam she will be placed here as the first ever registered nurse in the township.", Zerod said proudly as he touched Ania's shoulder.  
  
Will noticed that the woman named Ania looked a bit uncomfortable just being in front of him.  
  
"Uh, Zerod, I'm sure that Mr. Tasker doesn't want to hear about that. I'm here to help you sit up, Mr. Tasker.", she said, quietly.  
  
'Zerod ! You have a call.', said Helen's voice over the room's intercom.  
  
"Coming.", Zerod said and then looked at Will. "Excuse me, but I must take this. I'll return shortly."  
  
"Take your time.", Will told Zerod as the man walked out of the room.  
  
This left Will alone in the room with Ania.  
  
Again, they looked at one another for a quiet minute.  
  
"Well ?", she asked him.  
  
That surprized him.  
  
"Well, what ?", he said back to her.  
  
"Are you going to make it dance and do shadow puppets or are you going to keep it calm long enough for me to help prop you up on these pillows ?", she asked him, giving him a look.  
  
Will found himself smirking at what she had said to him. He knew right there and then that he liked her because she had that sarcastic tone about her.  
  
"Well, I, for one, am sorry about that. It was a mistake and I apologize for that. Amina ?", he said as she slowly walked over to the right side of his bed.  
  
"No. My name is Ania."  
  
"Ania. Pretty. That's one I haven't heard before."  
  
"I was named after a character in one of my mother's favorite books. Some sort of science fiction story.", Ania told him as she placed the pillows on his lap.  
  
She paused looking at him. This caused him to pause himself.  
  
"I must look a hideous mess to you.", he told her.  
  
Ania shook her head and said, "You have been here for the past couple of weeks. All of your burns have healed and your cuts and bruises are gone. So is your beard. Come on."  
  
Will reached up and rubbed his jaw as Ania helped him sit up, slowly. He felt a bit of stubble.  
  
"Did I have any burns on my face ?", he asked her.  
  
"No. And luckily I didn't find any once I shaved your beard.", she said as she placed the pillows behind him and then helped him lay back on them.  
  
After getting him a pitcher of cold water and a glass, Ania walked back into his room, noticing that he was still touching his face as she sat the pitcher on his portable table above his lap and poured him a cold cup of water.  
  
"Here. Sip this, slowly. You haven't had anything solid in your stomach for a while. You really are worried about how you look ?"  
  
"I was wondering about the damage. How bad it is.", he told her.  
  
Will watched her as she turned after fixing his covers and opened a desk drawer. She removed a hand mirror and handed it to Will.  
  
"See. No damage. Whatever damage that was there before your accident is not our fault.", she told him.  
  
Will gave her a slight chuckle and said, "No. I would hardly blame you for that ! Thanks."  
  
"You're welcomed."  
  
He looked at himself in the mirror again and then said, "I haven't seen my face like this in a few good years."  
  
"It makes you look younger than 44.", she told him.  
  
Will wasn't sure if it were a comment or not so he asked her, "Was that a comment ?"  
  
Ania looked to see that what she had said had caught his interest.  
  
"I guess it were. But, personally, I like beards. It gives a guy a manly look to him."  
  
"Well, truth be told, I prefer my beard also but having a beard doesn't make you a 'manly' man.", Will told her as she headed for the door.  
  
Ania shook her head and said, "I know that it doesn't but it couldn't hurt for him to have one. At least in my book, it wouldn't hurt his chances. Helen is on her way up with some soup and crackers for you. Oh, and we did contact your superiors Downstream and reported to them your condition. They want a daily report from us to them. I will send word to them that you are awake and obviously feeling just fine and, virile."  
  
He smirked at her. He really liked her attitude.  
  
"Hey ?", he said as she opened the door.  
  
Ania stopped and said, "Yes, Mr. Tasker ?"  
  
"Are you going to grace me with your presence later on today ?", he asked her.  
  
She smirked at the comment. "Of course. I am your aide. In all actuality, I am your only lifeline to the world outside of this building for now."  
  
"It seems that way. Do I call you 'Nurse Ania' ?", he asked her.  
  
Ania almost blushed and said, "No. Just 'Ania' will do until I manage to get Downstream and pass my test."  
  
"You sound very confident. You must be very good in what you do."  
  
"I am.", she said, with much confidence.  
  
"Well, I doubt I would be here now without your help. Listen, if I can call you by your first name, then please call me by my first name.", he told her.  
  
"William ?", she said.  
  
"No. 'Will' is just fine. You saved my life, for goodness sake."  
  
Ania thought for a second and said as she opened the door, again after it closed. "You know, I think that I will just call you 'Tasker' for now."  
  
"And why's that ?", he said with an almost frown.  
  
"I don't know. I guess that calling you that for the past month and a half really stuck to me. It suits you better than 'Will'. I'll return soon, Mr. Tasker. Take it easy and don't overexert yourself."  
  
With that she walked out of his room as Will watched her.  
  
Haven't been out of his coma for a full 24 hours and already he was flirting with his nurse. Well, he couldn't do much more of anything else seeing that he was bedridden with a broken arm and leg.  
  
** Day 1013  
  
Holy shit !  
  
You would never believe what happened today !!! Eventful is an understatement!  
  
First off, of course you know that I give the Lawman, Tasker his physical therapy for at least 30 minutes a day. Okay ! Well, today it was going as it usually does. You know, me wondering what kind of guy Tasker could be and all of that bullshit ! Well, while I have my music on and I'm keeping his blood circulating in his right thigh I, swear to God, brush his crotch by pure accident !  
  
Now, you know that I am embarrassed because even though I am no virgin, I don't just go around rubbing men's crotches ! Well, I would,that is, if he wants me to. But there hasn't been a 'he' in a few years !  
  
Anyhow, I'm embarrassed but that wasn't the worst part !! He wakes up or at least he was already half awake and me brushing him that way just woke him up and it definitely woke him up in every way because just before I realized that he was awake, he was beginning to develop a somewhat hard-on !!  
  
Unbelievable, right ?!  
  
I'm floored !!!  
  
So, I manage to get out of there without embarrassing myself any more and went to hide out in the lounge. But of course, Helen calls me and pulls me right back in to help the Lawman !  
  
It turns out that Mr. Tasker is a sarcastic flirter ! And he apologize for what had happened. I wonder how this is going to turn about ?  
  
Later for now. **  
  
__________________  
  
Over the next few days, Ania kept her distance from Will. They would speak but she would keep her distance.  
  
Will sat in his room, thinking, with his right leg propped up.  
  
He's been awake for the past nine days and today, Ania and Helen had promised him a wheelchair for him getting around and moving out of the bed, finally. There was nothing that he could do as far as starting where he had left off.  
  
How he had survived the crash with minimal burns, a few scrapes and bruising came to his mind a couple of times. The last he had remembered he was in the cockpit of his glider with the android. Just before impact, the android grabbed him and then, he blacked out.  
  
And where the hell was Belitski ? Of course, she would of came for him by now. That is, unless she was killed by Owens and the android. Which, right about now, seemed the possible answer.  
  
For now, all that he could do was to heal and get better and then make his way back Downstream and figure out what to do then. But while he was here, Will was definitely going to appreciate all that was in front of him. Including enjoying his conversations with the people here. To name one in particular, Ania.  
  
It had been a while since he had shown any interest in any woman and Will was sure that all of the kindness that Ania was giving him just came with her job here at the hospital. And she seemed to enjoy their small doses of flirting as well so did he. Her kindness was what he needed at this time. To help him get over the humiliation of losing his first bounty, ever.  
  
When the door opened, Will looked over to see Helen walk in holding a few folded items and behind her came Ania, pushing a wheelchair in front of her.  
  
"Well, here are my life savers !", he said, sweetly, to the two women.  
  
Helen gave him a slight chuckle and a blush as he saw Ania twist her lips in an 'Oh brother !' manner. He was pleased that he had made Helen blush but it was Ania's reaction that had amused him more.  
  
"Oh, nonsense ! You saved yourself, William. Ania and I just assisted you on your way.", Helen told him as she stepped up to the left side of his bed.  
  
Ania stopped at the foot of his bed with the wheelchair as Will glanced at her and then looked back at Helen.  
  
"Well, you will always be my life savers in my book. So, what is on my agenda for today ?"  
  
"Fresh air, William. You have been stuck in this hospital for almost two months. You need some fresh air and some sunlight. So, Ania here will help you into this wheelchair and assist you around for the afternoon and the rest of the evening. I have here a new outfit for you and some undergarments.", Helen told him as she sat the clothes next to him.  
  
Will looked at Ania and said, "Well, Helen, I'm sure that Ania don't want to push me around in a wheelchair for the entire afternoon. I'm sure that she has more engaging projects to do than to bother with me.", he said.  
  
Ania wasn't sure if he were being sincere or not but he did watch her reaction, though. Helen had now noticed that this wasn't the first time that she had found Will and Ania in a cute staring match.  
  
"Believe it or not, Helen has removed me from the staff roster for the rest of the week. She has placed me as your private aide until you are back on your feet, literally.", Ania told him.  
  
Will frowned a bit and said, "And why is that ?"  
  
"Well, your friends Downstream requested that you received the best care possible and seeing that Ania has been aware of your case from the beginning, it wouldn't be fair to her if I replaced her with another aide here who is unaware of your case. Besides, it seems that you both get along, wonderfully. Plus, she agreed last night to become your permanent aide until you are ready to leave.", Helen told him.  
  
He glanced at Ania again and asked her, "Are you sure that you're okay with this ? I can be . . "  
  
"A pain in the ass ? I'm fully aware of that already, Mr. Tasker. I'm sure or I wouldn't of volunteered."  
  
Will almost squinted out his smirk to her but he turned his attention back to Helen.  
  
"She's dug her own grave, Helen. I tried to warn her. It now looks like she's stuck with me.", he told Helen.  
  
"Oh, now, William ! Try not to be so hard on her."  
  
Both of them looked at Ania as she stopped herself from snickering, outloud. Helen smiled at her but Will knew why Ania had stifled her laugh at what Helen had told him.  
  
"I'll try. But I won't make any promises."  
  
Once Helen had stepped out of the room, Will watched Ania walk over to the right side of his bed as he looked at the black jumpsuit that Helen had brought in for him along with a t-shirt, boxer shorts, and socks.  
  
"So, you volunteered ?", he asked her.  
  
"Something along those lines. All of the other aides here are slightly older than myself and I am positive that they do not have the patience to deal with such an obstinate individual like yourself, Mr. Tasker."  
  
"Oh, really ? Well, I can't be all bad. At least seven of them came up this morning to see me and sign my casts.", Will told her almost bragging.  
  
And he saw that it had worked because her whole face looked a bit surprized.  
  
"What ?"  
  
Will nodded and said, "Yeah. I lie to you not. See.", he said as he brought his left arm over and showed her at least 10 signatures and even a few personal notes to Will.  
  
But what had struck her cord was the one she saw on his left leg cast on his left thigh, very close to his crotch was the imprint of purplish lipstick colored lips. It definitely wasn't hers because she only wore a dark maroon color. Ania read the inscription.  
  
"'On the first night that you are released, remember this note and come to see me ! Love, Dora'. Oh my God ! Dora was even up here ?!", she said, almost a bit pissed.  
  
Ania then cleared her throat and said, "Okay. Whatever."  
  
"You can not be jealous, are you ?", he asked her. More prying than anything.  
  
"Over what ?", she said more calmer than he had expected to be. "I'm just your aide, Mr. Tasker. I'm not your girlfriend. So what if the hospital's most trampiest nurse extended to you an invitation. It doesn't phase me. It doesn't surprize me either that she made her way up here at the mere mention of a handsome single male in the building. What does surprize me that she didn't rush up here while you were comatose. Just make sure that you swing by her place before you fly off from here and make sure you take a lunch because from what I understand she won't let you up for air until she get what she needs. Get dressed and I'll be back to take you outside, Mr. Tasker."  
  
Before Will could say anything, she walked out.  
  
After his door closed, Ania said to herself, "That bitch !"  
  
She closed her eyes after rolling them and then sighed.  
  
** Day 1018  
  
Well, what I was afraid of, happened !  
  
Dora Janwish, the registration aide, you know that skanky bitch that sleeps with every male that gives her any kind of attention ?! Well, she made her way up to Tasker's room along with ever other aide here in the hospital. And she extended him an invitation for a rendezvous at her place once his casts were off.  
  
It's bad enough that in this town, black women are looked at as a last resort (See day 642). And if you are not gorgeously pretty, like most of the black females are on the north side of the township, no one hardly looks at you at all ! I.E.: me ! I'm not ugly but I'm not gorgeous ! And thanks to that tramp, Dora, I will never know if a man like Tasker, someone who has been outside of this town and around to different places and people, will ever be attracted to a woman like me.  
  
Well, he's waiting for me to roll him around outside while visions of Dora, stripping naked and jumping on him, float through his head ! There that goes !  
  
Bye. **  
  
Ania walked back into the room with her backpack over her right shoulder to find Will sitting on the side of his bed with his t-shirt and boxers on. He looked over at her with is jumpsuit across his lap.  
  
"Hey, listen, I'm sorry for . . ."  
  
She cut him off by saying, "Forget about it. Here, let me help you with your jumpsuit."  
  
Will closed his mouth and watched her as she sat her backpack onto the bed beside him. She placed a black sock over his foot and then helped him pull the suit up over his left leg cast. He slowly placed his socked right foot down onto the floor and then stood up as Ania pulled the jumpsuit up to his waist.  
  
He had expected her to make a snide remark but she didn't.  
  
As she stood up straight, Ania came face to face with Will.  
  
"What, no pot shots ?", he asked her.  
  
Ania shook her head and, quietly said, "No. Here, let's get your left arm cast into your jumpsuit and then we can get ready to go. Our first stop is to find you a pair of boots."  
  
"Right.", he answered.  
  
After helping him into the jumpsuit, Ania zipped up the black jumpsuit. Again, she found him watching her.  
  
"What ?", she asked him.  
  
"You know, I have known you for almost a week and a half and I know nothing about who you are, Ania.", he said to her.  
  
She shook her head, slightly, picking up her backpack and asked him, "Why would you want to know anything about me ? I'm just your aide."  
  
Will shook his head and said, "No. On the contrary. You may be an aide here and one day, you will become a registered nurse, after you ace your tests. But over the past couple of days, you have been a friend to me. I don't have any friends that I can claim to. Not in the line of work that I do."  
  
"No, bountyhunting doesn't sound like a job where you would make alot of friends.", she said to him.  
  
"Hmm.", he muttered in an agreeing manner.  
  
Ania realized that they were very close to one another and she went to move away from him after clearing her throat. In the process, she dropped her backpack and everything inside fell out to the floor. But that had threw Will off balance and he had went to fall.  
  
Ania released a startled 'Oh !' and caught him just in time. Will groaned as he placed his right arm around her waist but in the process his left hand cast hit her right at the bridge of her nose. She continued to hold him up with his help and one arm but she had closed her eyes and held the bridge of her nose in pain.  
  
"Shit !", escaped from his lips.  
  
"It's okay. Just sit down for a minute, Will. Just for a minute.", she said to him. And she helped him to sit back down on the side of his bed.  
  
"Ania ? Christ, I am so sorry !", he said to her as he reached up to touch her nose.  
  
But she leaned back against the counter near the window, holding her nose. She sniffed and he thought that she was on the verge of tears.  
  
"I think I saw stars.", she whispered as she then sniffed again.  
  
Will stood down again on his good leg and his casted leg. With all his strength, Will stepped over to her and touched her waist as she still stood with her eyes closed, holding her nose, still.  
  
"Why don't you sit down ?", he asked her.  
  
Again, she sniffed as she shook her head. "No. Will ?"  
  
She opened her eyes and looked at him.  
  
His eyes locked with her.  
  
"Sit down before you lose your balance again. Please ?", she asked him.  
  
"Not until you tell me that you're alright.", he said to her.  
  
She sniffed a couple of times and then wiped her nose to see blood.  
  
"Oh, this is what I was afraid of.", she said as she tilted her head back.  
  
Will saw the blood and moved closer to her. His hand still on her waist. "I am so sorry, Ania !"  
  
"It was a mistake. No harm no foul. Listen ?", she told him as she took his hand that was on her waist and held it. "Listen to me, okay ? Sit down. I'll be alright. I can not risk you getting hurt even more over a mistake. Sit, Tasker."  
  
She helped him sit down on the side of the bed. "I'm going to go take care of this and then, we will go. I should be back within the next five minutes or so. Just stay here. I'll be right back."  
  
With that she made her way to the door with her head tilted back.  
  
He felt like a damn fool ! A bumbling fool !  
  
Never in his life had he ever felt so restricted ! Helen had told him that he would be able to take the cast off of his leg in two weeks but right now, he felt so out of touch with all of this. He was used to being 'on the hunt'. Being up in the air. Moving. Hard assing. But being immobile like this left him feeling vulnerable.  
  
Then, there was Ania.  
  
He found himself utterly attracted to her. But she almost showed no kind of attraction to him whatsoever ! Then, her reaction to the aide Dora signing his cast showed him that there was something there with her.  
  
Will shook his head as he sighed. He would have to ride this out until he was able to get on his feet and become stable again. And he would have to make a call Downstream.  
  
That was when Will noticed all of Ania's things were on the floor.  
  
The best he could, he leaned over and began to pick up the things he could reach without toppling over. A tube of lipstick, a few hair ties, a few papers, pens, her wallet and two books. One was a very old book of poems. The other had handwriting in it with a pen in placed in the last page written on. Will examined the book and then realized that this was Ania's personal journal.  
  
Even though his conscious told him not to, Will read the page as he listened out for anyone walking into his room, especially Ania, and find him reading her personal thoughts.  
  
What he read was marked at the top of the page: *Day 1018. And judging by what he saw, this was written just a few minutes ago. When she walked out on him, 15 minutes ago to be exact. *  
  
His eyebrows definitely went up ! Then, he frowned. Even though he was glad that she were attracted to him, he didn't like the fact of what she had said about herself.  
  
*'It's bad enough that in this town, black women are looked at as a last resort (See day 642). And if you are not gorgeously pretty, like most of the black females are on the north side of the township, no one hardly looks at you at all ! I.E.: me ! I'm not ugly but I'm not gorgeous ! And thanks to that tramp, Dora, I will never know if a man like Tasker, someone who has been outside of this town and around to different places, will ever be attracted to a woman like me.'*, he read outloud to himself.  
  
'What could she possibly not see in herself that I'm seeing. She's an attractive woman.', he thought as he quickly turned to find the page marked: *Day 642*  
  
The book didn't look that big and it was possible that Day 642 would be in another book. But he found it.  
  
And it read:  
  
**Day 642  
  
You know, I have been here in the township for the past two and a half years and I had always thought that it was much better than where I was born and raised near that two-bit shanty just outside of the Zionville Junction. I feel that I became a better person after leaving there after my mother died. But no matter where you go, sometimes, things just manage to stay the same as far as race goes.  
  
I now figured out why the more wealthier men here in town keep eyeing me like their next prospective. From what Helen has told me, the lower class black women, back in the day, used to sell their bodies off to the rich white men. While many of the other black women just stuck with the black men that were here. As time went on, the black women who sold themselves weaned but they were sought after by the white rich suitors.  
  
Today, there aren't that many hookers who are black from what I've seen but knowing the past, many white guys here look at black women as a second or even a last resort. And not as just a woman that they would be interest in getting to know. Loving me would definitely be out of the question seeing that they just can't see past my body.  
  
I'm going to be thirty in a year and a half and I know I can live my life without a man in it. I just need to know if I could be loved. If someone could love me despite how I look and feel about myself. I read all of those romance novels and wish that I could be half as beautiful as most of those women are. I mean I'm not hideous. I'm pretty. But . . I don't know sometimes.  
  
Sometimes, I look at myself in the mirror and wonder what it is that could make me look just like those beautiful women I see. I love how my hair is past my shoulders. And I love how the lipstick that I wear makes me look pretty. But is that all ? Is that it? No one could love me just for that, alone.  
  
But seeing how I am just 'restricted' to just my race and my race alone. I don't know. I'm just not attracted to black guys. My mother loved them like they were going out of style ! Me ? I find them cute but there is no attraction there for me. I don't know why and I don't force or make myself to feel that way. Maybe I'm a racist to my own people !  
  
Case in point: Zerod introduced me to this guy named Jacob Dent. He's black and he lives near his family who happen to be a respected group of animal herders just over past Macon's Hills. Jacob works beside Zerod at the drop off point and for the past few times that Zerod had come to visit Helen here at the hospital, Jacob came with him. He would ask me questions about myself like where I'm from. Have I ever had a boyfriend. Do I want one. Stuff like that. That's fine. I even went out with him once. I wrote in you all about it. But that's as far as it goes with me. I just didn't find any kind of attraction after that.  
  
Dora, that slutty aide, told me that it would be best for me to stick with Jacob because she noticed that I would take second looks at a white guy or two and that none of them would even consider me as a girlfriend much less a lover unless they were willing to cheat on their girlfriends or wives for a few hours a night. Basically, she called me a whore !  
  
I told her to go fuck herself the best way I could by just telling her loudly 'to go fuck yourself '! I then told her that she'd better stay the hell out of my way and my affairs. She looked as pale as a sheet and stuttered over herself as she rushed off to report me to Helen. But one, I made myself clear, two, she's stayed out of my way, and three, Helen still has not written up any report on me and made me just today her right hand here at the hospital but fourth and last, though I don't show it, it hurt me. They may call what I have 'low self-esteem' but that bitch, Dora, will never know about it !  
  
And I don't know what to do. Will I end up being alone or settling ? Just like the white guys here, I don't want a last resort or second choice. I want who I want.**  
  
Will closed the book and placed it into her backpack.  
  
Well, he had wanted to know more about her and he just found out a caseload about her.  
  
Seeing how the matters of hooking up in this town has gone over the years, Ania was a very open-minded woman looking for the man of her choice to fall in love with her. Not someone that she was quote, unquote assigned to be with because of their race.  
  
And that Dora aide didn't make matters any better for her, seeing that they had a tiff before. No wonder she showed up last night after Ania had left for the evening. The woman didn't want to cross paths with Ania, who obviously could hold her own. But Dora also wasn't afraid to flaunt that she had made her way past Ania, secretly, by leaving her lipstick imprint for Ania to see.  
  
When the woman applied her lipstick, placed an imprint on a tissue and then, placed the tissue on his cast to transfer the imprint, Will thought nothing of it. He had dealt with a number of women like this while working. They would flirt and he would never think twice about it or them. Though he like the attention, to some point.  
  
But Ania had his attention now. And after what he had just read, he felt like an idiot for bragging the way he had but eventually she would of still seen the imprint and the message Dora had left.  
  
From the moment she walked back into his room, Will apologized, profusely ! He even reached over and touched the bridge of her nose, to feel that it was cold, as she helped him into his wheelchair.  
  
Ania paused as she looked at Will. He was already watching her.  
  
"What are you doing ?", she asked, quietly.  
  
Will smirked as he moved his hand and said, "Checking your nose. It's cold. Ice?"  
  
She now smirked and said as she leaned over and picked up her backpack. "Yes. Ice. Boy, aren't you the big detective ! First you sock me and now you're worried about me !"  
  
Will almost groaned as Ania laughed, quietly, at his expense.  
  
"Stop worrying, Tasker. It's sore but the bleeding has stopped. Nothing's broken. Like I said, no harm no foul. It was a simple mistake. I'm fine !"  
  
Will ran his fingers through his hair with a disappointed sigh as they started out the room.  
  
Ania stood behind him in the elevator as it made it's way down one flight to the first floor and she did notice that he was pissed. She frowned as the elevator moved, slowly.  
  
"Why are you so upset about this ? I told you I'm fine."  
  
Will flexed his jaw muscles and huffed. "It's not just that. I don't like being like this. Being so immobile that I have to be pushed around. Waited on. Looked after. It makes me feel helpless."  
  
Ania listened to him as she watched his face in the reflection of the elevator door. He wore a very hard, pissed look.  
  
"I can't say that I know how you feel because I don't. But I am sorry that you feel this way and for the condition that you are in for the moment, Tasker. But like I said, it's only for the moment. Within a matter of time, you'll be able to get that cast off of your leg. And soon after that, the one on your arm. And then you will be able to get back to what you used to do. Be thankful, though. Your injuries could of been worst than a broken leg, arm, and a few burns. I saw that crash and no offense, but there was no way in hell anyone could of survived that crash and lived to tell about it."  
  
She patted his shoulder and whispered as the door opened, "Just for the moment, Tasker. You'll be back on your game again. It's better than not being able to go back to it at all."  
  
Will gave her a very humbled 'hmm' as she rolled him out of the elevator.  
  
When they went past the reception desk, Dora wasn't there and Will heard Ania release a sigh of relief. But that didn't stop two other nurses from making their way to the doors of the room that they were in and sing-song 'Hello' to Will.  
  
He just smirked and waved to be polite like he were, earlier, and they just seemed to just swoon ! But somewhere in the back of his mind he said to himself that he was Ania's for the day.  
  
"So, tell me.", he said as she pushed him out the double doors.  
  
The sunlight burned his eyes and he squinted to adjust them to the bright light.  
  
"Tell you what ?", she asked him.  
  
"Tell me about yourself. Your name is 'Ania what' ? Your favorite color ? Besides trampy nurses, what makes you just cringe ? And if I'm not being too intrusive, your secret dream ?", he rattled to her.  
  
Ania shook her head as she couldn't help to giggle as they walked over to a bench set up not that far from the entrance. She sat down on the bench and said, "Let's stop here for a minute so your eyes can adjust to the light."  
  
He blinked a few times as he felt the sun on his skin. It felt good. Will looked up at the sky and then back at Ania to see that she was watching him. It made him smirk at her.  
  
"Why in God's name do you insist on wanting to find out information about me ? You plan on stalking me once you get the cast off in two weeks ?", she asked him.  
  
"No. I want to know because I don't see you just as an aide. But as a friend. And a good one at that."  
  
She shook her head at him and looked down at her hands that rested on her lap. She was wearing a black long sleeved cotton dress that was A-shaped and reached down to the top of her ankles. On her feet were her long black boots. Her backpack was on the back of his chair.  
  
Will leaned forward and said, "Your name is Ania . . . ?"  
  
She looked at him thoroughly and said, "Sansweet. Ania Sansweet."  
  
A relieved look crossed his face as he sat back in his chair. "Now, was that so hard ?"  
  
She giggled and then said, "Not really. What else ?"  
  
"How old are you ? You look no older that what ? 22, 23 ?", he said, knowing full well that she had just turned 30 this year, according to her journal.  
  
Ania scoffed out a chuckle this time and said to him, "Nice way of saving your ass."  
  
He shrugged as he hid a smile in his hand.  
  
"I'm thirty years old."  
  
"You don't look it."  
  
"Thank you.", she said softly. She then continued. "My favorite color, I would have to say, is blue."  
  
He pointed to his eyes and said, "This blue ?"  
  
He was so flirting with her and she loved every minute of it !  
  
Ania leaned forward a tad bit as he leaned forward to her and she looked at his eye color. Ania, then, sat back and said, "No. The blue that I like is just a tad bit darker than that. Sapphire blue. That is more like an icy blue. Cold."  
  
Will shrugged as he smirked at her quip.  
  
"What makes me cringe besides trampy nurses ? Not rules but 'stupid rules' that don't make any sense. People who think that they are better than I am. Being forced to do something I don't want to."  
  
"What do you want ?", he asked her with an almost whisper.  
  
"Despite this day and age ? Just to be happy.", she answered in the same matter.  
  
"What can you do to be happy, Ania ?"  
  
She shook her head and said, "I don't know. Just be. Live your life the best way you can."  
  
Ania stood. "Let's get going. You said that you needed to make a call Downstream and we have to get your boots and a few more items for you while were out here."  
  
Will said nothing as they started down a paved path towards the town which consisted of a few two story concrete buildings but there were many abodes dug out of the mountain sides that surrounded the town on three sides. The town was in the middle of the three surrounding mountains.  
  
She showed him different shops and a few places to eat.  
  
When they passed one place in particular, Will looked up at her, reached back, and touched her arm.  
  
"Hey ?"  
  
"Yeah.", she said, answering him in the same manner.  
  
"Are you hungry ?", he asked her. "You brought in my breakfast this morning and it consisted of orange juice and farina."  
  
Ania held back a snicker because even though Helen had said that was good for a man like Will, even Ania knew that couldn't fill him up.  
  
"What was wrong with your breakfast ?",she asked him.  
  
"Well, no offense to Helen or you but it wasn't enough to fill me up.", Will told her.  
  
Ania nodded and said, "And you're hungry now ? Even though I managed to sneak you in an extra glass of juice and some toast ?"  
  
"As sweet of a gesture that were, yes, I am still hungry. What ? Plus, you'll be with me and you can monitor what I eat."  
  
She stopped them at the door of the restaurant she had just pointed out to him.  
  
"Do you promise to behave ?", she asked him.  
  
"The entire time, lady."  
  
She shrug and then wheels him into the restaurant.  
  
After lunch, Ania had left him alone in his chair as he placed a long distance message via the town's largest satellite dish at the Drop-off Center that was at least a half a mile from the town. He placed the call in with the proper coordinates and was able to reach a signal, Downstream. He told them, personally, that he was okay but he would need the next couple of weeks to regroup himself. He also asked for a location report on Belitski if she were still alive and last but not least, he asked if someone there would do him a favor and have a registration packet, study material, and an entrance exam for the RN exams. That there was someone, very experienced at the hospital he was being treated in and as a favor to them to say 'thank you', he needed this favor done so she could become a official registered nurse and receive a senior position at the hospital. With that, Will ended his phone call and had joined Ania in the next room who was talking with Zerod and being watched by Jacob.  
  
The same Jacob from her journal who she had no attraction to. The man was watching her pretty close but Ania seemed to ignore it. And when he had came in the room after ending his call, Jacob gave Will a watchful look. But once they left, Jacob was forgotten about.  
  
Will and Ania didn't make it back to the hospital until late afternoon when the early evening winds had began to pick up some. And even then, they walked back to the hospital in a slow, lazy manner. They had made their way over to the bench they had first stopped at when they first left the hospital.  
  
"What's it like riding the Slipstream all the time ?"  
  
Will looked up at her as he thought that her voice sounded so sweet in his ears. Ania stopped his chair next to the bench and then sat down on the bench.  
  
He shook his head and told her, "It's an unbelievable feeling. To be out there, out in the open. Flying free like a bird. And always knowing that risk of losing the wave of the 'stream that you been drifting on and you could plumaged down to the ground below. It's great."  
  
"Is that why you became a bounty hunter ? To travel ?", she asked him.  
  
"No. Bounty hunting was my calling. The traveling just came along with it. They say that everyone finds their niche. That is mine and I feel that every time a crooked bastard is captured and brought to justice, the world becomes a better place. It may sound crude but I think that it's true."  
  
"So, you're always on the go ? Looking for the next bounty ?", she asked.  
  
Will nodded. "Always."  
  
"And this here is just a road block. A minor detour."  
  
Will paused, looking at her. She didn't look bothered by what he had said but he then remembered that she wrote that she would never show her true feelings. So Will sat back in his chair, locking his eyes with her, and for the very first time in his life, he felt that he had a possible dilemma on his hands. But he had to cover up his tracks, also.  
  
"I'm not sure at the moment what this is, Ania. I was thrown off my game. Bested and I lost a partner in the process. One minute, I feel like I should take what has happened to me as a sign to start thinking about my future. Something I never thought I had before. But since I survived and I awakened from the coma, I have began to add on a few options on to my priorities."  
  
"Like what ?"  
  
"Fight bad guys but more in one area, maybe. Or just bounty hunt on the side and try to pull together some sort of life for myself.", he said, studying her face. How she would react to what he told her. "Or possibly, I could find another partner to hit the skies with me and I'll show and teach her all that goes with the territory."  
  
Ania frowned when she figured out what he was jokingly hinting at.  
  
"Are you kidding me ?!", she said with a now amused smile/blush.  
  
Will reached over and tapped her shoulder, playfully, with a smile.  
  
"Come on ! You're tough ! Plus, you'll be with me and I won't let anyone hurt you.", he said to her.  
  
Ania shook her head and said, "Naw. I like my job here. Besides, I'm sure that your partner is out there, still. Doing her own thing. Waiting on you. You said she was loyal."  
  
"Yeah, she was a great partner.", he said with a bit of care in his voice.  
  
Ania noticed his tone.  
  
"Do you love her ?"  
  
He almost froze but then he felt comfortable around Ania to answer the question.  
  
"I cared for her. Alot. But I would never allow my feelings to go too deep for her that it would consist of 'love'. Besides, it would put a kink in the job. And you're no good with matters of the heart on your mind while you're on a bounty. You're liable to get your head blown off."  
  
Ania nodded as she wrapped her arms around her.  
  
"Are you cold ?", he asked her.  
  
"A little. Let's get you inside. I've kept you away all afternoon. Helen is going to scold me for this.", she told him standing up.  
  
But once they were inside, it was just the opposite.  
  
Helen was thrilled to see them both, together.  
  
** Day 1049  
  
Okay.  
  
I truly think that someone is following me ! I was walking home for the second time tonight and had that eerie feeling. I turned and saw no one but I did see them duck out. And when I went to check and see who it were, they were gone! Just like last night. I'm not scared but beginning to worry !  
  
I hadn't told anyone yet. But it's getting to the point where I should. But who? Gregors' a lost cause ! Should I tell Tasker ? I mean just yesterday, he told me about where he's from and how dedicated to his job he were. He believes in law and all that. Would he believe in me ?!  
  
Tasker . . .  
  
Another tale in itself !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
I can't believe that this is happening the way that it has !  
  
Will Tasker is an unbelievable man ! Behind his hardass ways and stances, he is this really dedicated and romantic man ! And I have no idea how I gotten mixed up with him !  
  
What is wrong with me ?!?!  
  
I have never gotten this caught up over some guy who I know will not be around in the long run. From what I can tell, he has every intention in heading back into the field as a bounty hunter. But he keeps flirting with me. And making me look real good in front of my colleagues.  
  
Just today, as he and I were out having lunch, Dora, that skanky bitch, showed her face! Just as I was about to lose my appetite when she asked Will if he had remembered her message on his cast, Will turned around and said, 'I didn't think twice about it, really. Sorry, Darma.'  
  
Darma ?!?!?!?!?!?  
  
Is that funny or what ?!?!?  
  
But it didn't end there !  
  
Just as she had began to ask him did he need a reminder, Will interrupted her by saying "There was no need for the reminder because the cast was coming off very soon and a joke is a joke.' He then told her, 'Enjoy the rest of her afternoon as he very much will with Ania !'  
  
Me !!!!!!!!  
  
Dora walked out humiliated and I was amused and was ready to jump Tasker's bones right then and there ! And I'm sure that we would of given the entire diner a sight to see and Gregors wouldn't of reared his drunken head ! Plus, I'm sure Will would of enjoyed himself, massively also ! Very much !  
  
God, I wish he didn't want to leave so bad. He has that bounty hunter thing in his blood. I doubt that I would be able to hold him here if I played my cards right. I just don't seem to have those cards in my mix.  
  
Okay, fine !!! I can handle that !! For now !  
  
But a quick 'shuffle' with him wouldn't hurt either ! He's worth a night or two of 'bing-bing' !  
  
Woo-haa !  
  
More on Will later ! Bye. **  
  
Chapter II  
  
Ania didn't look so chipper when she walked in Will's room at 7:00 a.m. three weeks later.  
  
He was already awake when she had arrived and when he saw the drab look on her face, Will frowned, fearing the worse.  
  
He sat up and asked her, "What's wrong ? Did something happen ?"  
  
Ania shook her head and said, "I don't want to talk about it."  
  
"Something has you worried. I can tell just by looking in your eyes. Ania, tell me what happened ? Did someone hassle you for being with me ?"  
  
Ania looked at him after placing her backpack on the chair in front of his bed. "No, nothing like that. Actually, since I've been taking you out over the past two weeks, I have been getting teased with wolfcalls and comments about my new ward. No, this is different."  
  
"What is it ?"  
  
She hesitated for a brief second and then told him, "I think someone's watching me."  
  
That he hadn't expected and it made him pause as she sat on his bedside.  
  
"What ?", he said, concerned.  
  
"Yeah, I think that someone has been watching me.", she told him, turning to face him.  
  
"Are you sure ?"  
  
"Well, you know how you get that feeling ? Well, I have that feeling. An eerie feeling. Not during the day but at night when I'm walking home. And when I turn a corner and turn around, it looked like someone has stepped into the shadows. I go back to investigate and there's no one there. Or at least they've already gone."  
  
"Oh, Christ !", Will said to her as he rubbed his eyes and then, looked at her, worried. "Would you know anyone, at all, who would want to hurt you ? Any guy who has asked you out over the past couple of months ?"  
  
Ania shook her head and said, "No. No one that I know of. Except maybe you."  
  
Will paused at her comment and said to her after giving her a look. "That's it, lady ! Go ahead and laugh at my petty little obsession over you. Are you being serious here?"  
  
Ania smirked and said to him, "I am serious about someone following me. I just needed to throw that little zinger at you to make myself smile."  
  
Will squinted at her and said, "Uh-huh. Joke at my expense. Listen, why don't you stay here for the next couple of days."  
  
Ania paused looking at Will.  
  
"There's one problem with that ?"  
  
"What's that ?", he asked.  
  
"Not a chance, you scamp !"  
  
Will now paused, figuring out what he had said. "Wait a minute ! I didn't mean in here with me. I'm sure that Helen has a room here in the hospital that would suit your needs. Although, I'm pretty damn sure that this room could suit your sensual needs and more."  
  
'Dear God !', she thought. He had just made a pass at her and he looked so sexy doing it !  
  
To make him think that the comment didn't phase her, Ania began to shake her head in disbelief at him and ended up rolling her eyes, also. "Like I said, scamp !"  
  
She stood up as Will held on to his devilish smirk, watching her.  
  
"Alright. Seriously.", he told her as he swung his legs off of his bed. "All scampiness aside. You do have a problem. I can't do anything until this cast is off my leg which will happen within the next two hours. I think your best bet is to go and tell your town constable. So he would be able to keep an eye out."  
  
Ania made a face. "Gregors ?! Are you kidding me ? Let's see, it's 10 after seven now. I'm pretty sure that he is turning over for the first time in his mistress' bed around from the corner from the bar he stumbled out of an hour ago."  
  
Will frowned and said, "What kind of yahoo do you people have keeping the authority around here ?"  
  
Ania shrugged and said, "The toad was here when I got here four and a half years ago. The man is just two steps away from losing his last gunfight. Once that happens, then we are liable to see this hospital come to life a bit. Which I do not look forward to. Anyhow, me going to Gregors will achieve nothing except an agitated stalker. Oh, my God, I have a stalker !"  
  
She sat down in a chair in front of Will's bed after unzipping her coat as Will watched her.  
  
"The last thing that I need.", Ania said with a sigh.  
  
Will shook his head and said, "I don't like this, not one bit. I'm positive that it has something to do with me being with you for the past two weeks."  
  
"Why would you say that ?"  
  
"Because, like you said, you have been here for the past four and a half years and up until now, no one has followed you home after work."  
  
"That's right."  
  
"Tell me about how people react with one another here in this town. As far as dating goes.", he said.  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"I mean, are the people here open with dating, such as are whites comfortable dating blacks ? Are there any kind of dating barriers here ?"  
  
Will tried his best to put it in a way where he wouldn't hint on that he had already knew about how dating segregation had already went in the town of Currentburg Township.  
  
"Oh. Well, uh, it's not that bad but not all good either. People aren't that funny on dating as far as race goes. But due to the past going-ons here, black women are somewhat considered second best."  
  
"Or last resort ?", he added.  
  
"Yeah. Black women here kind of threw themselves around back then, if you know what I mean."  
  
He nodded. "Yeah, I do. Listen, I don't know why anyone would ever consider you in that way. Or as 'second best'. You are hardly that. I don't know if you know this or not, Ania, but you are a very strong, intelligent, and very beautiful woman who should have the heart and love of the right man. And not some jerk who will just see you as some object. I would never see you that way. Never have."  
  
Ania looked at him to see that he was quite sincere in what he were saying to her.  
  
Before either one could say anything, the door opened and Helen walked in.  
  
"Good Morning !", the woman chimed to the two she found in the room.  
  
Will turned his attention to Helen after giving Ania a final glance.  
  
"Good Morning, Helen. So, today's the day, huh ?", he asked her.  
  
"That's right. The leg cast comes off and you will have a bit more freedom to move around more. I hope that you won't be leaving us right away."  
  
Will shook his head as Ania stood, removing her long coat. "No, Helen. Not just yet. I'd like to heal a bit more before I plan on doing any moving . . , uh, around."  
  
He said the last part as he watched Ania walk out of his room without her coat. She was wearing something he hadn't seen on her before. A black one piece jumpsuit that wasn't too tight but it showed off all of her curves that he hadn't seen before. He had felt a bit stupid just telling her that he have never seen her as an object and now here he were, ogling her body.  
  
Helen smirked as she watched Will barely finish his sentence. She didn't need to turn around to see that the man was occupied with who was walking out of the room. Once Ania was gone, Will's full attention was back on Helen. And he smirked, meekly, at her when he realized that she had been watching him watch Ania.  
  
"Sorry. I got a bit sidetracked there.", he told her, truthfully.  
  
"That's quite alright. I have noticed that you, William, manage to get very distracted whenever Ania is in your presence. I find nothing wrong with this. And I'm positive that Ania doesn't mind the attention. She seems quite fond of yourself also."  
  
"She's an attractive woman. We get along well.", he told her.  
  
"Very well from a third person's point of view. But it's a shame that you will be taking your leave of us soon.", Helen pointed out. "As you said, Ania is an attractive and devoted woman and she possesses a very beautiful soul, also. Despite how people think in this town, I'm sure that she will find the right man to love her. Not one that will hurt her. A young man, Jacob, you've met him before, he was interested in Ania but she didn't have any attraction towards him. Nice young man. But he just wasn't her cup of tea. But now that I think about it, Jacob was a bit too subdued for Ania. She likes someone to joke around with her and be silly with her. A Romantic."  
  
Will shrugged at what Helen said and she saw it as him forcing away a blush.  
  
Helen tapped his shoulder and said, "Will you listen to me ?! Going on about Ania. It almost sounds as if I'm showcasing her for you. You have no intentions in pursuing Ania seeing that you will be leaving soon. Sit still, William. Ania will be back in shortly with your breakfast."  
  
She stood and started for the door.  
  
"Helen ?", Will called out to her.  
  
She paused and looked at Will.  
  
"Yes, William ?"  
  
He paused for a brief second and then looked at her. "How apparent am I ?"  
  
Helen smiled and gave him a brief chuckle, folding her arms in front of her.  
  
"Very. The both of you. Just a word of advice, William, if you do plan on staying, please try not to hurt her. She has a beautiful soul and I am positive that she has an even more beautiful heart."  
  
Will sighed, quietly as he saw Helen walk out, basically leaving him alone to think about what she had just told him.  
  
__________________  
  
Their morning and early afternoon was filled with their usual banter. Ania sat as his cast was being cut off, writing in her journal. And as she wrote in the journal, Will would glance at her every so often, wondering if she were writing about him.  
  
When he finally stood up on both of his feet, his left leg felt very shaky but at least he was standing.  
  
After Helen removed the discarded cast from his room along with another nurse, Will stood against his bed and then, looked at Ania.  
  
"Well, what do you think ?", he asked her, wearing a black long sleeved crew neck shirt and olive pair of cargo pants.  
  
She looked up at Will and closed her book, using her pen to keep her place. She, then, stood up.  
  
"It's you without your leg cast. I see no difference.", she told him trying to be nonchalant.  
  
"You're kidding, right ? I'm not lopsided like I were before.", he told her as he steadied himself at the foot of his bed with his free right hand.  
  
She smirked at him.  
  
"So, I guess now we begin my physical therapy again, huh ?", he asked her.  
  
Ania frowned a bit and said, "What physical therapy ?"  
  
"You know, the one where you help me walk around while I keep my arm around your waist the entire time. Having us to be nose to nose with one another.", he told her as he raised his eyebrows up at her, playfully.  
  
Ania continued to smirk at him as she stepped up to him and they were practically nose to nose. She was so close that he could practically smell that oriental scent that he had gotten so used to.  
  
"Oh. That kind of physical therapy.", she almost whispered to him in a very sexy voice that made his eyebrows go up in amusement. "Well, I haven't been trained to give that kind of physical therapy but I'm sure I can, you know, think of something."  
  
Will could do nothing but release a very satisfied 'Hmm !'  
  
Ania looked him over to see that he was game to whatever she were to plan and the look on his face was that he wanted to kiss her.  
  
"Let's see, the first thing that we need to do is get you situated. And ready.", she told him and it sounded like she was about to purr in his ears !  
  
"Oh, yeah ?", he asked in a low voice. "And what would you say if I told you that I were already ready and was ready to move on to the next step ?"  
  
"Then, I'd say, let's move on. Now, are you listening ?", she said close to his ear as she felt his free hand on her waist.  
  
"I'm all ears !", he told her.  
  
"Good. Now, the first thing that you need to do is to give me your free hand."  
  
Will handed her his right hand, taking it off her waist.  
  
"Now, with your right hand . . . ", she started.  
  
Will paused for a second. When he looked down at his hand, he saw that Ania had placed the handle of the cane she had brought in just before they cracked open his cast into his hand.  
  
In her normal voice, Ania said, "Use this cane to walk around with. Physical therapy ?! Come on, Tasker ! I may be younger than you but I'm not naive."  
  
Will chuckled, quietly, at her little luring joke on him as Ania smiled at him.  
  
"Sorry but I couldn't help it.", she said, conceding.  
  
"Yeah, I bet.", he said to her.  
  
"Listen, I'm going to go get your lunch. You start walking around with your new therapy friend.", Ania told him as she turned and stared for the door.  
  
Will watched her just for a brief second. Then, with the jerk of his right hand, he hoisted his cane up in his hand, reached over with it, and with the handle, caught Ania's left arm. Getting her attention as the door opened.  
  
"What . . ?!", she had began to say but turned to see that this was Will's doing and she noticed the look on his face. It was obvious that this little gesture was due to his bountyhunting skills and quick reflexes.  
  
Will pulled her back over to him as she just watched him pull her over to him.  
  
"Trying to get my attention, Tasker ?",she said, saving face.  
  
He was quiet for a second as he studied her face, for the umpteenth time. His face a bit serious. And those crystal blue eyes of his, glowed.  
  
"Ania, all flirting aside for a second. You do know that there is something here. Or am I fooling myself ?", he asked her as he placed the cane down on the floor between them.  
  
She could of lied to him but the way he was watching her, Ania felt that he would of known if she were lying to him, so she didn't.  
  
"Yeah. There is something here between us. And we both know it.", she said to him now being serious, also.  
  
It was quiet for a few seconds as they watched one another.  
  
"But we shouldn't go any further than we are now. Because you're leaving and I don't want to get hurt. Look, I'll be back with your lunch. It's going to take me a while because I have to make it. Start walking around on that left leg of yours. I'll be back."  
  
With that, she walked out of his room as he watched her.  
  
Will, then, sighed.  
  
"Well, I really painted myself into a corner with this one.", he said outloud. "And she is not the type of woman that would want to be a port call every few weeks. Hell no ! Besides, I would hate to be without her. Even for a few weeks."  
  
Will began to walk around the room, strengthening his left leg with every step he took.  
  
That was when he came across Ania's journal.  
  
He glanced over his shoulder and then picked up the book. Will opened it to the page where she had left her pen at and began to glance over her beautiful handwriting.  
  
** Yesterday, I told you about how when we were sitting out on the bench and he got up, cast and all, picked a small bunch of wildflowers off of a bush and gave them to me, right ? Well, they're still sitting on my kitchen alcove in the small vase. I watched them all this morning as I shoved my breakfast down my throat so I could hurry and get here just to see him. And he was wide and awake when I got here, as if he were waiting for me !!  
  
I want him ! In the worst way ! And I want him to stay ! Even if for a little while !  
  
We would be so great together. Hell, we're great together now !  
  
But how do you calm down a wildfire in a man who all his life is so used to the hunt ?!  
  
At this very moment, I regret that his leg cast is coming off. It's just one less obstacle keeping him here. And the way that he even looks at me ! As if he's on the hunt for me. And it drives me crazy as if I see a hunger in his eyes. His hunger for me.  
  
If it weren't for my dream that I had about him last night, I probably would be consumed with who has been following me home from the hospital over the past couple of days. I plan on giving him his gift today . . . **  
  
"What the hell are you doing ?!"  
  
Will looked up and behind him to see that Ania had walked back into the room, holding a tray with his lunch on it.  
  
Busted.  
  
As she walked over to him, her worst fear was revealed !  
  
He was reading her journal.  
  
"Shit !", escaped from his lips as she walked over to him.  
  
Ania placed the tray she was holding down onto the table and then snatched her journal out of his hands.  
  
"'Shit' is right ! Will !! This is personal !", she almost yelled at him.  
  
"Look,", he told her. "I thought that it was a log you were keeping of my progress while I was here.", he told her, trying his best to cover his tracks.  
  
"Oh, bullshit !", she told him. "How much did you read this time ?"  
  
"Now wait a minute, . . .", he began but then paused. "What do you mean 'this time' ?"  
  
Ania sighed as she placed the journal in her backpack.  
  
"I meant that I knew that you read it that day you sucker punched me in the nose, Tasker.", she said to him.  
  
Again, he paused. "How did you know ?", he then asked her.  
  
"Let's just say that every time I finish writing in my journal I leave the pen in where I last wrote. When I found my journal in my bag, no pen was inside."  
  
"But it had fell to the floor.", he said as a matter of factly.  
  
"Yeah. And when it fell, I remember it being closed with the pen intact.", she reminded him.  
  
Will frowned.  
  
"What are you ? Some sort of constable of some sort ?", he asked her.  
  
Ania smirked. "No. Remember, I told you that my father was a lawman. He was . . "  
  
"Killed when you were 16. And your mother died four years after that. I remember. They raised one hell of a daughter !"  
  
"Yeah, well.", she said as she sat in the chair in front of him.  
  
"I'm sorry, Ania. I guess the snooping part in me is coming back to me."  
  
"That's not such a wonderful excuse. You invaded my privacy."  
  
"I know. And if you tell me how I can make it up to you, I will try my best to do so.", he said, looking at her.  
  
"I'll take a raincheck on that. I have to get ready to go home. The Slipstream is acting up again and there's a storm pulling in. It'll be here within the next hour or so. Helen told me that I should to go home. And I think for now, I should."  
  
As she stood, Will took her arm with his free hand and said, sweetly, "Stay."  
  
And it made her pause.  
  
"Take a room here at the hospital. We can talk through the night."  
  
Ania smirked as she noticed that serious look take over his face, again. She then shook her head.  
  
"No. I should go. My place isn't secure and the 'stream can be a bitch sometimes roaring through this valley."  
  
Will released her arm, running his finger down her arm and nodded. "Okay."  
  
"I have something for you before I go, though.", she said reaching into her bag again.  
  
He watched as she pulled a large garment out of her bag.  
  
"What's that ?", he asked her as he watched her unfold it.  
  
"This is your coat. The one you had on the day of the accident when we found you. The tail of it was badly burned but the rest seemed to be just fine. Whatever saved you from that crash managed to save your coat, also. I cut off the damaged part of your coat and matched it with a piece of matching black leather material at the bottom. I cleaned it and I mended it to the point where you really can't see that the piece was added on."  
  
Ania handed him his coat.  
  
Will looked over the coat with his jaw almost gaping and then looked at Ania to see that her gesture had pleased him, massively.  
  
"Well ! This is excellent, Ania. I don't know how to thank you.", he told her.  
  
"Say 'Thank you' and I'll try to forget that you even read my journal."  
  
Will looked at her for a brief few seconds. Then, on a whim, he pulled her into his arms, looked at her for a second, and then he kissed her on the lips. It wasn't a long kiss but not a brief one either. And at that moment, Will was sure that he had gotten his point across to her, clearly !  
  
He then turned her loose, slowly.  
  
"Thank you.", he said, softly.  
  
Completely thrown, she said, "You're welcomed."  
  
The door opened and Helen hurried in as the wind outside pushed against Will's room window.  
  
"Ania ? Dear, you're still here ?", she said as Will stepped back from her.  
  
"I'm . . I'm . . I was just leaving. I was just giving Will, Mr. Tasker his jacket that I had fixed up for him.", she said as she reached over and picked up her coat.  
  
"Please, dear, get home safely.", Helen told her as the younger woman placed her coat on.  
  
Ania nodded as she kissed Helen's cheek. "I will. Just need to go now. Tasker, Helen will bring you your dinner. Keep, uh, working on that left leg. And hopefully, if the stream dies down by morning, I will see you both then."  
  
"Be careful.", Will said as Ania walked to the door.  
  
She looked at him and then at Helen and said, "I will. Take care."  
  
And she walked out.  
  
Helen looked at Will with a mischievous smirk.  
  
"You kissed her.", she said.  
  
Will looked at Helen and asked her, "How could you tell ?"  
  
Helen reached over and wiped the tiny bit of maroon lipstick off of his bottom lip. "Lucky guess !", the woman said, playfully.  
  
Will couldn't help but blush.  
  
As he started his lunch, which was a very hearty sandwich with the works, a side dish, and a large cup of apple juice, Will looked out of his window to see that the tree, not that far from his window, leaves were moving a good bit. Immediately, his mind went to Ania. He wanted to be with her and if it were anyone to stop his wildfire, Ania would be the woman to do so ! He was sure of it !!  
  
She was on her way home right now. And if he weren't mistaken, her stalker couldn't be that far behind.  
  
That was when he paused.  
  
What the hell ?!?!  
  
What was keeping him here besides the cast on his left hand ?!  
  
__________________  
  
Ania thought about the kiss all the way home ! There would of been no way in hell that she would of fought him off from that kiss. She wouldn't of wanted to. And she didn't.  
  
As the wind blew her hair around, Ania turned around once to see if anyone had been following her up to her apartment.  
  
No one was there nor were anyone trying to duck out of the way.  
  
'Good ! They finally decided to give up on me.', she thought as she started up the walkway to the row of seven apartments that were some of the newer and recently carved out caverns in the huge mountain side which was less than a half a mile from the hospital.  
  
The wind was picking up more and more as she closed her long coat up around her neck.  
  
When she walked into her apartment, Ania felt funny as she reached over for the lamp and didn't feel it there. She frowned. She knew that the 'stream was strong and forceful and when the ventilation ducts were open in her apartment, the breezes could move many items in her apartment around. But it wasn't that strong to knock the lamp over.  
  
Ania bent down and felt around for the lamp and found it. When she turned the lamp on, she gasped at what she had saw.  
  
Her whole living room was in shambles !!  
  
The cushions from her chairs and couch were thrown about. Her other lamp across the room was laying broken on the floor. Her vases were all broken. Even the picture of her parents was laying on the floor, ripped out of it's frame on the wall.  
  
'Oh, dammit !', she thought as she stood up. 'This person who has been following me has been in here. And nothing's missing so they could have a serious grudge against me !'  
  
The door behind her was still open and the Slipstream continued to blow forcefully, outside. Each gust stronger than the last. But there was no mistaken in what she had just heard.  
  
A noise. As if someone was moving around.  
  
'They're still here !', ran through her mind as she looked around and grabbed the first long, sharp object she saw. The broken leg of a chair.  
  
Ania would be dammed if she would let this person think that she was afraid.  
  
"Alright !! You have five seconds to come out or I'm coming in swinging and drawing blood !! I'm sick of this ! One, two . . , Three . . .!!!!", she yelled.  
  
"Ania !?"  
  
She almost yelped as she turned, tripping over her lamp, busting the bulb, putting the entire apartment in darkness again. Ania felt a hand stop her from swinging the chair leg. When she reached back her left hand and threw out a force ridden punch, Ania punched something hard and it had hurt her to the point where she had yelled out in pain.  
  
"Son of a bitch !!", she yelled, drawing back her hand.  
  
"Ania !! It's me !", the person yelled.  
  
She squinted at who she could barely see in the windstorm. She was definitely surprized.  
  
"Tasker ?! What are you doing here ?!", she yelled.  
  
Will moved closer to her, holding his cane, and said loud enough for her to hear, "Checking on you. What the hell is . . ."  
  
Before he could finish what he were saying, someone came rushing past them and running out the door of Ania's apartment causing Will to drop his cane.  
  
Ania yelled out "Stop them !" as she was pushed to the ground.  
  
But Will managed to keep his balance as he also managed to clip who it were that pushed Ania and him out of their way to make a daring escape with his cane. The perp fell to the ground with a thud!  
  
"Hey !!", Will yelled as he leaned over and grabbed the person by the collar and got a good look at them. Seeing who it were made Will frown.  
  
The person pushed Will and gotten out of his grip, standing up. But in a way, Will had turned the person loose.  
  
As the stalker ran with the wind pushing him, Ania stood up and yell, "Hey ! You bastard ! Wait !!"  
  
But before she could take off for the person, Will grabbed her by the waist, stopping her from going after the person, after picking up his cane.  
  
"Will, they're getting away !!", she told him over the windstorm.  
  
"Let him go ! ", Will told her. "Come on. Get inside. This storm is just beginning and it's not going to let up any time soon to go after them."  
  
"Are you kidding me ?!?! They trashed my apartment and you're letting them get away ?!", she yelled over the wind.  
  
"Ania, I saw who it was.", he told her bringing his face close to hers. "But there's nothing we can do now. If we stay out here, the Slipstream could kill you and me both. Come on, let's get inside, now !"  
  
She sighed in defeat and looked off to where her stalker had run off and lost were they had disappeared to. She then walked with Will into her apartment and closed the door, locking it.  
  
Ania had managed to get to her kitchen and turned on the lights in there. That was when Will looked around at the damage. Not alot but enough to be consumed for the next hour if she were to clean up by herself.  
  
"Not very keen on housekeeping, are you ?", he asked her as he unzipping his coat.  
  
"Now is not really a great time for your sarcasm, Tasker. What are you doing here ? How did you know where I lived ?"  
  
"Well, I had brought up your address in the hospital computer after getting Dora away from her desk. I sent her on a bogus errand that she was more than happy to do for me. Then, I just went from there and that was when I found you standing in your doorway about to bludgeon the hell out of who was in here trashing your place.", he told her as he picked up her parents torn picture up off the floor.  
  
Ania walked out of her kitchen as she began to unzip her coat.  
  
"I have to call Helen, if I can get a signal through, and tell her that you're here and not out in the storm.", Ania said and then grew quiet for a second wondering what could happen between the two of them, alone, here. Until this storm blew over. For a brief passing second, Ania wondered if she had enough condoms in her apartment.  
  
"So, who was it ?", she asked him as she shook off her dirty thoughts and ran her fingers through her hair to straighten it out.  
  
"Your friend. Jacob. The really subdued one.", he said with a hard, hoarse voice.  
  
Ania paused in step for a moment. She then shook her head and said, "Unbelievable."  
  
Will saw her flex her left hand.  
  
"You okay ?", he asked her nodding to her hand.  
  
She looked at her left hand as she continued to flex it. And then looked at him. "It hurts like hell. It's what I get for trying to punch a cast ."  
  
As Will removed his coat, he looked at the cast. She hadn't cracked it. He, then, walked over to her as she leaned over and began to pick up a few items. She then squatted there, looking around, realizing that the damage wasn't all that bad, seeing that she didn't have much to break in her apartment for to begin with.  
  
"He's jealous. He's jealous that I prefer to give my time to a white guy and not him, a black guy. God ! He's a damn idiot and I am going to make sure that he pays for this.", she said, balling her left hand up into a fist. She then release a quiet 'Ow !'.  
  
Will bent down next to her and took her left hand into his right hand. "Your hand is beginning to swell. Do you have any ice ?"  
  
"In the freezer.", she said.  
  
"Come on. Let's get some on this hand of yours."  
  
Will sat across from her in the kitchen after Ania closed all but one vent in her apartment and tried to reach the hospital. But the storm was blowing a bit too strong for a solid connection. So Ania left a message and hoped that Helen would receive it and not worry about Will and where he were.  
  
"So, now you're giving me your time ?", he asked her to lighten her mood.  
  
Ania smirked as he placed the ice wrapped in a cloth on the back of her left hand. "Name another guy that I have been hanging around for the past couple of weeks ?"  
  
"Believe me, I'm honored for your presence. But we have to do something about this Jacob before he crosses a line."  
  
"I'd say that he already has.", she retorted.  
  
Ania looked at Will after a few seconds to see that he was watching her.  
  
"Did you even bother to eat your lunch that I left for you ?", she asked him.  
  
Will nodded and said, "Yeah. I ate it on the way here."  
  
"And Helen doesn't know where you are?"  
  
"She saw me heading this way, so, I'm sure that she has some idea where I am. I'm positive that she knows I can take care of myself. And you, if I have to. Oh, and while I was getting ready to come over here, she told me over my room intercom that I have a message and a package waiting for me down at the Drop-off Center. Both from Downstream. Both came in late this afternoon."  
  
"From your superiors, I presume."  
  
"Yeah. I'm sure it is.", he told her. "The pilot must of rode in and out on this storm's 'stream.  
  
"I can take you there first thing in the morning. Hopefully, the Slipstream will let up a bit by then. Besides, I need to set things straight with Jacob.", she said.  
  
Will saw her brown eyes flicker for a quick second.  
  
"I don't doubt you for a second !", he told her.  
  
__________________  
  
An hour later, they had the apartment back in some sort of order.  
  
"Do you like quail ?", Ania called out from the kitchen.  
  
As he walked down the hall that led to the back rooms of Ania's apartment, Will called back and said, "Not raw."  
  
"Very funny !", he heard her say.  
  
It made him chuckle.  
  
"You know,", he started. "It's amazing how they managed to dig into the side of a mountain, run electrical wiring, and pipes through it and make the insides livable."  
  
He stopped at an entrance where instead of an electrical door like the front and bathroom doors there was a very sheer black curtain hanging all the way down to the floor. Will pulled the curtain aside and looked inside.  
  
'Dear God !', he thought. 'This is her bedroom.'  
  
Will hid a sigh as he leaned up against the entranceway.  
  
"I see that you're honing in on your snooping skills.", Ania said walking up next to him.  
  
Will looked at her and leaned his arm up against the bedroom entrance way.  
  
"I was just trying to remember how it felt to sleep in a bed again.", he told her.  
  
"Yeah, seeing that you have been laying in a bed back at the hospital for the past two, alomst three months.", she pointed out to him.  
  
"No, I know. But I'm talking about my own bed. The one with all the right lumps and grooves in it."  
  
"Oh !", she said. "When was the last time that you were home, Will ?"  
  
He thought for a second and said, "Well, I've been here for the past two and a half months. And the last bounty that I was on had lasted for the past three months, so all together it would be five and a half, six months."  
  
She shook her head and said, "God ! Will you still have a home to go to ?"  
  
"Thanks to you, Helen, and Zerod, I do. If you guys hadn't of called my superiors, they would of called and cancelled my credit account. My credit account would of stopped paying my monthly rent. So forth and so on."  
  
Ania nodded as she walked into her bedroom and over to her nightstand next to her bed. She lit a candle and the candle gave off a warm low glow in the large bedroom.  
  
"Why don't you have someone at home waiting for you, Tasker ?"  
  
He shrugged and said, "Mainly because I didn't have time for someone, then. No one had caught my interest long enough."  
  
"But you do, now ?", she asked as she sat down at the corner of the foot of the bed.  
  
"I want to.", he told her as he continued to watch her at the entranceway. "But as you said earlier, you don't want to get hurt and I really don't want to hurt you, Ania."  
  
She looked at him and then looked away, rubbing her arms. "I won't let you.", she told him with a whisper. 'I won't let myself', she thought to herself.  
  
After a few quiet seconds, Ania stood and walked towards him. She then stopped before walking out of the bedroom. "Do you have to ?", she asked him. "I mean, do you truly have to go back out there ? Be a bounty hunter ?"  
  
"It's all I know, Ania.", he told her.  
  
"And it nearly got you killed ! I know ! I saw the crash ! But only God knows what saved you ! Isn't that proof enough that God is trying to tell you something and that you, alone, don't have to be the only lawman to track down every single bad guy ?! That the reason that you were spared from dying in that crash was because you were meant to start over ? Have a life !"  
  
"God had nothing to do with me surviving that crash, Ania !", he told her. "As far as I am concern, I was supposed to die in that crash."  
  
She paused looking at him, wondering if he had lost his mind. Just a few days ago, he had told her that he had a strong belief that there were a God. And now this ?!  
  
"How can you say that ?!", she asked folding her arms in front of her chest.  
  
"Because, it was an android that had shielded me and then, pulled me from that crash!", he nearly yelled at her but it had been more of a confession than anything. "What android ?", Ania said, cautiously.  
  
Will looked away from her and blinked a few times. He then looked at her and said, "You are the only person that I am going to tell this to. My supervisors will even hear another version of this story."  
  
"But to me, you'll tell the truth to ?", she asked in a slightly doubtful manner.  
  
"Yes.", he said, very sternly.  
  
"Why ? You feel that if you be truthful to me, it would be your best bet to lure me into bed ?"  
  
"No. I'm telling you because you are the only person that I have been able to trust for a very long time. And right about now, I'm kind of offended that you would even think that way about me ! Ania, I had no intention of coming over here and sleeping with you. I came because I was truly worried about you and I had wanted to talk with you. I do want to make love to you, I can't lie about that. But not like this. Not when I'm still injured, not when you are still uneasy about trusting me in that way, and definitely not when I have yet to make up my mind about what exactly what I want to do over the next couple of weeks."  
  
She nodded looking away from him, completely embarrassed for even saying what she had said to him.  
  
"I'm sorry.", she said, looking at him. "I haven't been this close to a guy in a while and I almost forgot what it was like to be around a sincere one. Or to trust one again"  
  
Will shook his head and then said, quietly, "No. It's alright."  
  
Ania took his right hand into her hands and pulled him into the bedroom. As they both sat down on the side of the bed, Ania told him, "Tell me. What caused you to crash into Liar's Slope ?"  
  
Will looked at her, took a deep breath, and then, told her everything !  
  
From the moment that he and Belitski had taken on the job to catch the android to when he opened his eyes in the hospital where they had taken care of him at.  
  
They talked through dinner and a dessert of cookies and milk. And all the time, the Slipstream roared outside. Neither one cared except about what the other was either asking or saying.  
  
By midnight, they both were exhausted and had managed ending up on the large couch in Ania's livingroom.  
  
Will saw her yawn and frowned.  
  
"I've been pulling your ear for the past 4 hours.", he told her.  
  
"And I've hung on to every interesting word. That yawn snuck up on me."  
  
"Well, you being at the hospital at 7 a.m. just to see me, after shoving your breakfast down your throat, I can see why you're exhausted. I can be a handful.", he told her teasingly as they both stood up.  
  
Ania gave him a tired snicker as he smirked at her.  
  
"Where do you keep your extra linen ?", he asked her.  
  
"In my bedroom closet."  
  
"You go get that for me so I can get comfortable here on this couch. And a towel because I would really love to take a shower for the first time without my cast being on."  
  
"I meant to ask you, how in the hell did you make it all the way over here after just getting your leg out of a cast ?! Your left leg should be exhausted !", she asked him.  
  
"It is. Believe me, it is. I just pushed myself, cane and all."  
  
"Yeah, well, after your shower, I should press a few of your leg muscles because come tomorrow morning, your leg will spasm up something awful without some sort of therapy."  
  
"As long as you don't graze past anything !", he told her as she started down the hallway to her bedroom.  
  
"Very funny, Tasker !", she yelled behind her.  
  
About an hour later, Will stepped out of the shower feeling fresh and clean from all of the dirt that had kicked up on him on his way over to here. When he stepped out of the bathroom in just his cargo pants and t- shirt, Will noticed that it was deafly quiet and all that he could hear was the Slipstream blowing outside.  
  
"Ania ?", he called out.  
  
Nothing.  
  
He then took a few steps back and peeked through her sheer bedroom curtain to see that Ania was fast asleep in her bed. It had looked like she had did one of those 'I'm-just-going-to-lay-here-and-rest-my-eyes-while-I'm- waiting-for -Will-to-get-out-of-the-shower' type of jobs and the sleep had over powered her.  
  
He had gotten a bit drowsy himself as he waited for her to finish her shower so he could take his. But he held on. Obviously, Ania couldn't. But Will definitely didn't hold it against her. She's had a long day.  
  
Will moved the curtain aside and stepped into the bedroom after throwing his used towel over his shoulder. He slowly walked over to the farthest side of Ania's bed and turned off her lamp. He then walked over to the other side that was closest to the door, picked up a box of matches and he lit the candle that she had sitting on her nightstand.  
  
Once again, the room lit up with a soft low, but warm glow.  
  
Will looked down at Ania to see that she was wearing a gown and robe. It wasn't a fancy ensemble but more of a mix and match type of thing. The robe was a red cotton robe and the gown was white but had an almost silk quality to it. But it didn't matter to him what she was wearing. He thought that Ania looked beautiful in whatever she would put on.  
  
"Hell, you could be wearing a burlap sack right now, lady, and I would still want you.", he said with a whisper as he reached down to the foot of her bed and brought her blanket up and placed it over her.  
  
She sighed, quietly, in her sleep as Will watched her for a brief second and then, sighed himself as he turned and walked out of the bedroom after kissing her left temple, gently, making sure his beard didn't bother nor wake her.  
  
He made his way to the living room.  
  
Jacob had broken into her apartment before and he would be right here in the livingroom waiting for him if he had decided to brave the Slipstream and show back up here to try and hurt Ania.  
  
Will looked at the couch and smirked.  
  
While he was in the shower, Ania had added on to the blanket and pillow she had first gave him. She had laid the couch back to show that it was a large futon all along. She, then, made up the futon like it were a regular bed with a fitting sheet, a sheet, a thick blanket, and two large pillows. She made sure he was comfortable.  
  
He shook his head as he sat down on the futon. In his own way, Will massaged his left thigh for a few minutes.  
  
She was a good woman. A very good woman ! And in his heart, Will Tasker wondered if Ania Sansweet would be all that he needed to keep him from going out there and getting blown away for good. What she told him was an excellent observation:  
  
'Isn't that proof enough that God is trying to tell you something and that you, alone, don't have to be the only lawman to track down every single bad guy ?! That the reason that you were spared from dying in that crash was because you were meant to start over ? Have a life !'  
  
It was a valid argument.  
  
The next day saw them confined to Ania's apartment still as the Slipstream storm wailed on outside. So all that they did was talk and get to know one another more than they already knew. Both fighting the tension that were between them being so closed in.  
  
During their conversation on the couch, the second night, she asked him what did he mean when he said, 'I look into the eyes of God.'. And he told her about what he was thinking at that very last moment. Just before he thought his life was about to end.  
  
"I had turned to my last resort, the droid, to help me. To save my life. Because from what I had understood at the time, he had these healing powers. I don't know how or why it's like that but I had turned to it for my life to be spared even though I had tried to kill it and cash in on it."  
  
Ania looked at him and said, "Spared ? You make it seem like you were this one track minded ogre."  
  
Will nodded and regretfully said, "I was. I was a ruthless man, Ania. I didn't care about the individual. I just cared that it was a bad guy I was bringing down and I was the one that was going to serve him justice. My badge was just the excuse I needed to bring them down. So, in a way, I was a bastard just like the bastards that I were bringing in."  
  
"But, now ? How do you feel now ? About yourself ? Your life ? Your priorities ?", she asked him.  
  
Will said nothing as he looked at her. His face was as serious as it had been off and on for the past few weeks with her. But this time, he reached over and stroked her left cheek with the back of his right fingers.  
  
"I never thought that there was no other way of life than the life I had been living just three months ago. I want to see more. I want to see you more. I feel so different when I'm with you, Ania. And for the first time in my life, I feel like I matter in someone's life.", Will told her, quietly.  
  
He stroked her cheek again as she closed her eyes, enjoying his touch. That gave Will the perfect opportunity to move closer to her, bring his lips to hers and he kissed her again. But this time, the kiss they shared went a bit deeper.  
  
Will knew it had been quite some time since he had shared a deepened kiss with any woman and he enjoyed the feeling. The actual feeling of having a woman in his arms. One that was just interested in him for who he were and not what he could do. And she tasted so sweet and pure to him. Just by that one kiss, Will knew that there hadn't been that many she had been with because she had let him lead her through the kiss as she placed her hand on his chest.  
  
He pecked her twice on the lips and then watched her as she slowly opened her eyes, reviving from their kiss and she noticed that Will had been watching her.  
  
Quietly, she cleared her throat, twice, and then stood up, almost nervously.  
  
"I'd better go check on dinner.", she said, softly and she then walked over to the kitchen area.  
  
Will looked down at his cast and wish to God that it had came off yesterday along with the one that were on his left leg. But then again, he was sure that Ania didn't want him pouncing all over her, even though they had just spent one night together in the same apartment and not touch one another.  
  
He stood and made his way over to Ania, who was actually checking on their dinner that she were fixing for them. Tonight, was beef and potatoes, different from last night's roasted quail and wild rice. Maybe it was just him being out on the hunt all of the time but compared to what he's had at pit stops and junctions, Ania was an okay cook. She didn't burn or undercook anything so far, so she received no complaints from him. Even though Ania just felt that he was being too polite.  
  
He leaned against the counter for some leverage because his left leg was beginning to really ache from yesterday and due to not moving around so much today. Ania had made him sit down the majority of the day but she would always turn around and found him up on his feet again, helping her do something or going through something of hers. All without the assistance of his cane which sat next to the front door.  
  
"Are you okay ?", he asked her and she glanced at him.  
  
Ania nodded and then smirked at him. "Yeah, I'm okay. I just have to get a bit used to having someone pay attention to me, again. It has been a while."  
  
"If you don't mind me asking, exactly how long has it been since someone has paid attention to you, Ania ?", he asked her.  
  
She turned to him and thought for a second. "Two and a half, three years. There was this shop owner who said he was attracted to me and it led to nowhere special because he was looking for what I had understood, a mistress. His wife was cheating on him with not one but two black men at the same time. I was to be his 'sweet payback'."  
  
Will frowned. "But you didn't. Did you ?"  
  
Ania scoffed, almost a bit angrily. Not at what Will was asking but more at herself for what she had done.  
  
"You know, I'm not some little virgin ! So pure and innocent that I will not let a man touch me unless it was my wedding night ! In this day and age, when it's possible that this entire earth could be swallowed up in a nanosecond by another shift in the earth's crust, I'm not about to just sit back and go without."  
  
He was surprized at her bluntness but it truly didn't shake him. And he did notice that she had paused.  
  
"But that doesn't mean that I just jump on every guy that I find attractive. You do that and people will begin to see you as some whore or tramp.", she added. "I have my priorities. I have my rules."  
  
"But every once in a while, you like to be reminded by a guy, that you are an attractive woman with set priorities, waiting until the right one comes along.", he said, quietly.  
  
Ania's jaw flexed as she closed the oven door. She then shook her head gently as she continued to look away from him. "Something like that.", she said and then walked around him and out of the kitchen.  
  
Will just watched her.  
  
"You know, when I first got here, I had been paying pilots to ride with them to their next stopover once I had made enough money at the diners and ports that I would work at. I worked in five diners and I had even worked at two of the ports Downstream for two months. That was where I had met Caraboo. He was the pilot that used to live here in Currentburg Township. He said that he knew of a town that I would like to live in. He died four months ago."  
  
She looked at Will as she sat back down on the couch.  
  
"You didn't hear what you wanted, did you ?", she asked him as he walked around the alcove and then leaned against it.  
  
"Your sex life is not something that I truly need to know, Ania.", he told her.  
  
She smirked and said to Will, but not looking at him as he walked back over to her at the couch, "But you want to know. So, to put your mind at ease, I know what to do when it comes to that. I know enough to know what I like and what I don't like. And I have no intention in being with any guy who is looking to get off, roll over, and start snoring, leaving me reaching for a 'brass ring' that I will have to get on my own."  
  
She froze as a smile crossed Will's bearded face. "That's what I was waiting for !", he said outloud.  
  
He was waiting for her to let loose a bit of information that would clue him in on her sex life.  
  
"Oh, damn !", she said as she stood up from where they were sitting.  
  
"What's the matter ?", he asked her. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, really. You're human."  
  
"Do you ?", she slipped in just as he had said the word 'human'.  
  
Will continued to smile as he sunk back into the chair. "This conversation isn't about me, Ania."  
  
She made a noise as she looked at him through the alcove. "Sucker's way out !"  
  
Will laughed at her comment about him sidestepping her question.  
  
___________________  
  
The next morning, Will awoke the moment he had heard a noise in the kitchen.  
  
"Could of shot ya' twice, Tasker, before you raised your head.", Will heard and it made him smirk as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.  
  
What made him smile was the beautiful smile that was smiled back at him.  
  
"Good Morning to you, Miss Sansweet.", Will said as he leaned up onto his right elbow.  
  
"Good Morning to you, Mr. Tasker.", she said to him, warmly.  
  
Ania walked out of the kitchen and over to the very dim lamp that was on near Will's bed. She was holding a mug of coffee. And to his surprize, she handed it to him.  
  
"Thanks, dear.", he said with a sweet smile.  
  
Ania shook her head at his silliness. "You're welcome. Listen, I'm going to open the front door like I did yesterday morning, for a minute. Like I said before, the ventilation in this mountain is excellent. But sometimes when a Slipstream storm comes through, the wind moves a bit too fast over the vents and at times, the fresh air sometimes misses their targets. I just like to open the door and it starts the air circulating again."  
  
"Sure !", he told her after taking a few sips of coffee. "It's your place."  
  
As she walked over to the front door, barefoot but with her robe on and open, Ania heard Will say to her, "Have I ever told you how beautiful you look in the morning ?"  
  
Ania scoffed as she shook her head.  
  
But she knew that she looked extra good this morning ! After waking up 15 minutes ago, she had set it in her mind that she wanted Will Tasker to make love to her this morning !! Regardless of her beliefs in 'no one night stands until Mr. Right' and regardless of his left arm cast. Besides, the cast extended from his hand to his elbow. Nothing to get in their way.  
  
She brushed her hair, brushed her teeth, and made sure she looked and was very presentable. The man had spent the past two nights in her house and he didn't touch her. Even on the first night, Will had placed her blanket over her and turned off her lamp, lighting a candle without laying a hand on her.  
  
Now, either he had planned on leaving like he was debating about or he had truly respected her. Either way, Ania wanted to be with him before he left out of her life, for good !  
  
She reached over and pressed in the code to unlock the door. As it slowly opened, a gust of wind filled the living room. The Slipstream storm had still blew too strong and too hard for someone to make a decent trip. The wild wind whipped hard enough to hurt someone with a loose object someone would of been too careless not to batten down.  
  
"Not just yet.", she heard Will say behind her.  
  
"Yeah. Maybe it'll die down within the next few hours or so. At least enough to get you to the Drop-off Center and back to the hospital, in case it decides to kick up again.", she told him.  
  
"You're that desperate to get rid of me, huh ?", he said, sounding much closer to her.  
  
"Not really.", she barely whispered to herself.  
  
Ania placed her hands on the open doors threshold as her hair and robe waved in the wind. She squinted out to see that there were just three individuals trying to make their way through the wind storm. Ania was sure that one of them down there was one of Constable Gregor's deputies making the rounds through town. Keeping the peace. One of them kept on their way through whatever had them out trying to brave this weather. The last one had stopped in place. Possibly, the storm was a bit too much for the person, for they seemed stuck in one place.  
  
Her instincts told her to look to her left and she did to see that Will was standing directly behind her.  
  
He had been watching her. And right about now, to him, Will found it completely impossible to stay away from her. She looked unbelievable as she stood in the doorway. Her robe and hair flowing around her and it reminded him of something so beautiful ! So enticing ! The way she looked. Standing in the doorway, looking out. Regardless of what his decision of what he had intended on doing, Will felt that it would be a desperate crime to pass up this moment to be with Ania.  
  
"What's wrong ?", she whispered to him as he placed his left casted arm across her stomach.  
  
With his eyes locked with hers, Will shook his head and said, "I pray to God, nothing, Ania."  
  
He closed his eyes, unable to fight himself and his feelings any longer, as he hugged her waist the best he could, pulling her body to his. Will sighed as he smelled her hair and, then, her neck.  
  
"Nothing is wrong between us.", he whispered in her left ear.  
  
Ania closed her eyes as he kissed her neck, gently.  
  
Will heard Ania whisper, "Will.", as he placed his right hand around her waist, slowly.  
  
"Before, I didn't want to see it. But, now, I do, Ania. It's you.", he told her with another whisper.  
  
He gently kissed her on the lips and then went to her neck, kissing her behind her ear a few times. As he kissed her left shoulder, Will moved his right hand up her stomach, slowly. He opened his eyes and watched her reaction as he continued to move his right hand up her stomach and then, cupping her right breast, fully, into his hand. And as a godsend, Will heard Ania sigh, as she placed her right hand over his own.  
  
Will knew that she was about to stop him from progressing any further. But then he heard her whisper through the wind, "Will, make love to me."  
  
He looked at her as her eyes opened and locked with his.  
  
All Will could do was nod because he was too overwhelmed to speak at the moment as he felt Ania caress his right hand that was on her right breast. He wasn't going to ask her any questions because he had truly needed her. Shunning all that he had considered two nights before !  
  
He turned her to him in the open doorway and then pulled her to his eager body again.  
  
"I know what you want.", he told her with a very sarcastic smirk. "And I have no intention in getting off, turning over and start snoring until I hear you call the Maker's name ! Believe me when I say this."  
  
In a sexy fashion, Ania told him, "We'll see."  
  
Will raised his eyebrows once as he gave her a very satisfied 'Hmm'.  
  
He then reached over and closed the door as he leaned over and kissed her, tasting her with his tongue.  
  
Less than a quarter of a mile down on solid ground, Jacob, wrapped up in his cloak, watched as Ania stood at her door, being ravished by that lawman !!  
  
It was disgusting and unmentionable !!  
  
She should be with one of her kind !! Not some wayward man who will take advantage of her and then leave her. So what, she didn't find him attractive enough !! She would grow to love him. He could love her far more better than this sorry excuse for a man ever would !!! He knew that he could.  
  
But she wouldn't give him the time of day ! Because of this man, now.  
  
Soon, he would be gone and maybe he would be able to show Ania just how devoted he were to her !!  
  
She would have to know or he would lose her completely to the white men of this town.  
  
Jacob grimaced as he saw them kiss. And he had even cursed under his breath as he saw the door close.  
  
He just needed a leeway in !  
  
Eventually, he would find one ! Or, he'd make one !!!  
  
It had been a while since Will was with a woman but he didn't forget what it took to please a woman. The 'stream hadn't taken that away from him! But to please a woman that he cared for, it had been years since he had done this. Making love to a woman that he had fallen for. One that would make him consider and change his whole lifestyle. To be happy. And in love.  
  
As he made love to Ania, yes, the thought of him actually falling in love with this woman had become a strong possibility ! He watched how beautifully she reacted under him. How she looked. How she sounded. How she received him.  
  
____________________  
  
He looked at her in the candlelight as Ania opened her eyes and looked at Will to see that he was watching her. He reached up and caressed her cheek.  
  
"Are you okay ?", he asked her, softly.  
  
She nodded with an embarrassed smirk on her face. "I'm okay. Just a little embarrassed in how I just behaved."  
  
"Embarrassed ?!", he repeated as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'm the one who should be embarrassed !"  
  
Ania chuckled as he placed her hanging hair behind her left ear and kissed her sweetly on the lips.  
  
______________________  
  
As Ania laid sleeping in Will's arms, he laid awake listening to the continuing Slipstream storm. At one time, he had figured that the Slipstream was the only 'woman' in his life. She was the one who had embraced him and carried him along the way.  
  
Well, as of this morning, it was the Slipstream against Ania Sansweet, the woman laying asleep here in his arms. And Ania had won, hands down! She was strong willed, independent, intelligent, and never backed down from a challenge or fight.  
  
Will Tasker had finally met his match.  
  
____________________  
  
Kit Belitski sat motionless at her desk after receiving a message from Downstream, which was a day and a half away in the southwest from where she and Matt Owens had started to set up a balloon shop a few months ago.  
  
But due to the lack of financial funds, it was more a dream than anything else right now.  
  
But Kit couldn't complain, really. She was with this guy, who at first, she had made out to be a serious pain in the ass ! Come to find out, he was just a flirting mirror image of herself. The 'get-it-any-way-I-can' type. And they had enjoyed one another's company and had decided to go into business with one another and leave pleasure for the end of the day, after work.  
  
But considering the message she had just received from Downstream, her mind was working overtime.  
  
Her ex-partner, Will Tasker was alive !  
  
He was alive and recuperating in a small town called Currentburg Township, which on her map was a good distance away from here and Downstream.  
  
How the hell he survived the crash that Matt had told her about was beyond her! According to Matt, Tasker and the android had perished in the fiery crash. And nothing was left.  
  
But if Tasker were dead, how could he send a live message to headquarters beyond the grave ?!  
  
According to headquarters, he had suffered major injuries but had recovered after two and a half months of downtime. He was still recouping but a few weeks ago, they had sent him a package of items that he would need to get back Downstream.  
  
Which meant that he was on his way back Downstream. If he was on his way back Downstream, perhaps, she and he could team up again. Just long enough for them to gather enough money on one high staked bounty and split with Tasker for good.  
  
She wondered how he would take the fact that she had shacked up with Owens ? A guy that she knew who had caused all of the problems that led up to that very crash. A man he had despised.  
  
But wait !!  
  
If Tasker was still alive, that meant that the android was still out there roaming around!! And Matt knew about it !  
  
"Wait until I get my hands around that bastard's throat !", she said as she walked out of their house.  
  
She found Matt inside the hood of his glider. Today, they had gotten up early and made their way to the port not that far from their place and picked up a few supplies. On the way back home, Matt had heard an off hum in the motor. So he was now trying to see what was causing the hum.  
  
Matt heard Kit walking up to him and he said, "Hey, Kitty ! I was thinking. Maybe we should give that mink wrangling thing a second thought. You know, until we can get the balloon shop up off the ground."  
  
Matt, then, heard a loud bang and it made him jump, hitting his head. He yelled out in pain as he came from under the hood. He saw that Kit was standing there, holding a smoking gun, looking extremely pissed.  
  
"What the hell ? Oh, Jesus !", he said, much more worried than he looked. "What the hell did I do to deserve that wake up call ?"  
  
"Before I kill you, I just want for you to be honest with me, Matt. No lies just the truth."  
  
He gave her a look as she cocked the rifle she was holding. Not pointing it at him but hell, she was holding it and that didn't make him feel any better about the situation.  
  
"Uh, sure ! Sure, Kitty, honey. What's on your mind ?" he asked her, sweetly.  
  
"I just got a call via satellite from Downstream. Tasker's alive."  
  
Matt froze.  
  
Right about now, he had hoped that Kit was just having a bad 'female problem' day. But after what she had just said, Matt wished that he were anywhere in this universe but here !  
  
"That's impossible !", he said with a frown. "How could he be alive ?"  
  
"I don't know.", Kit told him as she moved closer to Matt. "But he got in contact with our supervisors and that he is on his way back Downstream to our headquarters. But that is not what has me pissed off. If Tasker survived that crash, it was because of that android ! You knew it had survived that crash, didn't you ?"  
  
Matt said nothing. He knew that he couldn't lie to her about it.  
  
"And you let it go without letting me know that it were alive. And all this time, I could of gone to see about Tasker, taken the android in, collected my bounty and we wouldn't even be struggling to get this balloon shop up off the ground?!", nearly yell but she were more hurt than pissed now. Mainly because she had trusted him.  
  
"Kitty, Byron was my friend. I couldn't let you turn him in. He was just beginning to feel and understand life. I just couldn't let you take him in. I had no idea that your partner were still alive. Byron didn't say anything to me about it. He must of saved him at the last minute. Kitty, you have to believe me !"  
  
"Son of a bitch !", Kit yelled as she turned away from Matt shooting off the round that was in the gun's chamber.  
  
Matt flinched and yelled, "Will you stop shooting off that damn thing ?! I think I'm going deaf !"  
  
She sighed and looked at him.  
  
"I have to go see Tasker."  
  
That had got his goat !  
  
"What for ? He's alive ! Good for him !", Matt said with a ting of jealously in his voice.  
  
"Will you put away that jealous tone for a minute and listen to me ! I go find Tasker, who will most likely head back to his place Downstream, he and I take on one last bounty, and then we go our separate ways for good ! The money I get from that bounty will help us finally open the balloon shop.", Kit told him.  
  
Matt shook his head as he placed one closed fist on his hip.  
  
"I don't like it, Kitty ! I thought that you said you had no romantic feelings for Tasker.", he told her.  
  
Kit frowned. "This has nothing to do with romantic feelings, Matt ! I'm talking about investing in our future together !"  
  
"Really ?! Well, all I'm hearing is that you want to run off and find your old lover and start skirting around the skies again !", he said to her as he followed her towards the house.  
  
"Lover ?! That's ridiculous !! Tasker and I were never lovers !"  
  
"But you're running off to be by his side ! I thought that you were finished with being a bounty hunter ?!"  
  
Kit stopped at the door and turned to Matt. "I am finished, dammit ! But we need this money, Matt ! We can not live off of dreams forever or we will never be able to get the balloon shop up and going ! Listen, I love you, Matt and I want to be with you ! But I need to find Tasker now ! He is the best, despite his little mishap ! We won't go after your friend, Byron but we will take on another high staked bounty and we will get paid, majorly for it. Then, Tasker and I will split the bounty two ways and go our separate ways. I swear. I am done with this ! But we need this money and the best way right about now is to convince Tasker to take on one last bounty !"  
  
But of course, Matt only heard what he had wanted. "You love me ?", he asked her with a sweet smirk.  
  
Kit rolled her eyes and said, "If I didn't, your pathetic corpse would be laying back there by that rusty glider with a smoking gun wound to the chest. You jerk !"  
  
Matt smiled as he moved up to her placing his arms around her waist. "Aww ! My Kitty Kat loves me ! My Kitty kitty kat !", he said, playfully and she couldn't help to blush at his silliness.  
  
"Get away from me, Matt !", she said to him. But instead, he kissed her, deeply, and it made her hug him back.  
  
He looked at her, sweetly, and said, "I love you too, Kitty !"  
  
She giggled as he kissed her cheek and said, "Oh, shut up, you."  
  
They both laughed at one another.  
  
_____________________  
  
Chapter III- coming soon!  
  
(if I recieve enough feedback good and/or bad!) 


	2. Chapter III

Chapter III  
  
Zerod looked up when he heard a knock on the Drop-off center's door that was open to see that Will and Ania had made their way there. But the storm had finally let up after three and a half days and all that was blowing this morning was a constant but cool breeze.  
  
"Welcome, you two. What did you think of the storm that just passed through?", he asked them as they walked in.  
  
"It was a rough one but it served it's purpose.", Will said slightly hinting to Ania by placing his hand at the small of her back.  
  
She smirked and said, "I'm just glad that it's over. Zerod, where's Jacob ?"  
  
"He's in the back."  
  
Ania's anger came back to her all at once as she took off through the large hanger full of supplies. Zerod frowned as he looked at how quickly Ania took off and then looked at Will.  
  
"What is going on ?", Zerod asked.  
  
"Ania !", Will called out and then with Zerod they started off for what was about to happen. "Three and a half days ago, Jacob broke into her apartment and trashed the living room."  
  
"He did what ?!", Zerod said in disbelief.  
  
The moment she saw Jacob working in the corner, she started to unzip her coat.  
  
When Jacob looked up he felt Ania's fist connect to his jaw, causing him to stumble back and up against the back wall of the hanger.  
  
"You bastard !", she yelled out to him as Jacob stood up straight, touching his jaw.  
  
Will swore to himself that if it weren't for the fact that he knew Jacob would retaliate against what had just happened, he would of patted Ania on the shoulder for the direct punch that she had just threw but instead he had to stop her because she looked as if she was going to pounce again.  
  
Will grabbed Ania to stop her for going after the man again.  
  
"Ania, no !", he told her.  
  
"You stopped me before, Will. Don't do this to me again !", she told him.  
  
"I said 'no'. I think you got your point across.", he told her but paused as he saw Jacob, out of the corner of his eye, started over to them.  
  
Will held up his right gloved hand to Jacob and said, "Don't even think about laying a hand on her , pal !"  
  
"Ania ! What is so special about him that you could not be with me ?", the man asked her.  
  
"Dammit, Jacob ! I have no feelings for you ! I've told you this before ! What more can I say to you?! You ripped my parents' photo, you've broken my things, and you are lucky as hell that I haven't gone to Gregor's and told him about you breaking into my place ! You had no right !", the young woman told him, irate.  
  
Jacob just shook his head. "You can not hear me. Not with him here. Sheltering you. Filling your head with lies how he cares about you. Just to sleep with you."  
  
Will frowned as he kept his cool, barely. "Hey !! You watch your damn mouth! This woman here took care of me and helped me back on my feet and I owe everything to her. So you have no clue what . . "  
  
"I saw you grabbing on her at her apartment !", Jacob interrupted Will.  
  
They all frowned at him.  
  
"What ?!", Will said turning completely to Jacob.  
  
"You were grabbing all over her a few days ago, in her door way. Filling her head with lies. Ania, can't you see that he is just having his way with you until he is better. Then, he is out of here, like the 'stream."  
  
Ania shook her head and said, "You were even watching me then! As a storm was going on! You pervert! You sick pervert!"  
  
"Zerod . . ", Jacob started, looking to explain his side.  
  
But Zerod interrupted him. "Jacob, maybe you should go home and get some rest for a few days. Away from your room here at the center. Go see your parents, son. Rest."  
  
"What for?"  
  
"Once you're rested, come back and continue to help me here."  
  
Zerod was just about the person he trusted and lately, even he seemed to have no problem with this 'fly by night' con man.  
  
But Jacob nodded.  
  
"Fine. I'll go home for a few days, Zerod. To see my folks. Because you asked me to.", he told the man.  
  
He turned to leave but then looked at Ania.  
  
"When he does leave you, and we all know that he will, I will be right there to tell you 'I told you so'. Believe me, you will want to be with me then.", Jacob told her.  
  
Ania shook her head and looked away from him as Will pushed Jacob away from her.  
  
"You just stay the hell away from her ! Understand ?!", he said to Jacob.  
  
Jacob said nothing as he turned and walked across the large hanger and out the door after grabbing his things.  
  
Will untensed once Jacob was gone and he looked at Ania.  
  
"Are you alright ?", he asked her.  
  
"I'll be okay. Let's just get what you came for and get you back to the hospital."  
  
"Right.", Will said to her.  
  
They both looked at Zerod, who was trying to come down after what had just happened. He looked at the two.  
  
"Uh, Zerod ?", Will said to the man. "We just came for my package. Sorry about the little sideshow."  
  
The older man nodded as he started towards the front of the hanger where they had came from. "Of course! Of course. This way. I have your package from Downstream just up front, Will. Follow me, the both of you."  
  
After following the man up to the front, Zerod handed a medium sized package to Will. Will looked it over and after inspecting it, then began to tear open the brown generic wrapping after thanking Zerod.  
  
The man nodded and then looked at Ania.  
  
"Are you okay ?", Zerod asked her.  
  
"I'm alright.", she told him as they stepped out the front door.  
  
Will noticed that the older man was moving Ania out of his earshot and it was just as well. He was sure that others would have questions once they realized that she were with the man that she had tended over for the past two and a half months.  
  
"Ania ? Is it true ? That you are with William now ?", he asked with a whisper.  
  
Ania said nothing as she looked off towards the town. That had answered Zerod's question.  
  
He smirked with a sly "Uh-huh."  
  
"Well, I owe Helen five dollars.", he told her, still smirking.  
  
Ania's eyebrows went up as she looked at Zerod. "Five dollars ? For what ?"  
  
"Well, she made a bet with me that you would of fallen for William by the time his leg cast came off. I said the arm cast"  
  
Ania rolled her eyes. "Wonderful ! Everyone is keeping tabs on my love life !"  
  
"That's right, dear. We publish your doings in the sports section of the weekly newsletter, now that you mention it.", he said with a smile.  
  
"You are so funny, sometimes.", she said, blandly.  
  
"I try."  
  
Will walked out of the Drop-off Center and Zerod looked at him.  
  
"Well, Will, I hope your package has brought you some good news."  
  
"It has. I am to tell you that a passenger glider will be coming through here five days from today to pick up some passengers to take them Downstream.", Will told Zerod.  
  
Zerod nodded as Ania looked at Will. But when he looked at her, Ania turned and avoided his gaze.  
  
A few minutes later, they departed from the Drop-off Center much quieter than they had arrived. Will carried his package under his right arm as he made his way with the cane in his left hand.  
  
"Hey ?", he said to Ania who was walking a few steps ahead of him.  
  
"What ?", she said looking back at him.  
  
"We need to talk.", Will told her and stopped in his place.  
  
Ania noticed that he had stopped and stopped herself a few feet away.  
  
"About what, Will?" She paused for a second and then shrugged. "It's quite obvious that you will be leaving on that passenger glider coming through here in a few days, so why don't we just cut this short here."  
  
"Well, just to update you before you sock me like you socked that wack job Jacob, let me just tell you that, yes, I am going to be on that passenger glider.", he said.  
  
"Well, there you go!", she told him.  
  
"But I'm not going to be alone. You will be coming with me."  
  
Ania paused and then said, "Will! I told you that I don't want to leave here. I thought that you said that you will stay here for a while."  
  
"I will be coming back."  
  
"Right !", she said, curtly. "You're going to go Downstream and forget about Currentburg Township."  
  
"And you ? After the past three and a half days we have spent together? Ania, that's not going to happen. Listen, five days from now, I will be getting on that passenger glider and I hope that you will be with me. You will have to be on that glider with me."  
  
Ania shook her head and said, "Why?"  
  
"Because, tonight or tomorrow, you will be taking this.", he told her as he reached into half open package and pulled out a packet wrapped in plastic.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
Will smiled as he dropped the package but held the packet up to Ania as he moved closer to him.  
  
"This is the registration, study guide, and entrance exam for the Registered Nurse examination that will be held two months from now Downstream."  
  
She paused for a second and then placed her hand on her chest, surprized. "What ?!"  
  
"I know for a fact that you will past the entrance exam that Helen will supervise over you either tonight or tomorrow. Then, you, with me, will fly Downstream and hand deliver your sealed exam to the officials. They will check it over, along with your references from Helen on your work here. They will send you a confirmation data card on where and when to go to take the final exam. And once you pass that one with flying colors I will take you out and we will celebrate. And then you and I will come back here, together, so I can flaunt you off as my very intelligent lady who happens to be the town's newest Registered Nurse."  
  
He watched her surprized reaction with a satisfied smile.  
  
"Will !", she said as she finally took the packet from him. She looked it over and saw the official seal from the registration offices Downstream. She looked at him. "You did this for me ?"  
  
"Of course, I did it for you. Who else would I do it for ?", he asked her.  
  
"But it takes months to even get through to the registration offices Downstream. How did you get the whole registration packet with the entrance exam and study guide ?!", she asked him.  
  
"I know a few people Downstream and in my department who owed me a favor or two and they pulled some strings for me. For you."  
  
Will stepped up to her and leaned closer to her, even though they were the only ones on the path that led back to town. "Even though we were in the throws of passion, I meant what I said about wanting to be your Mr. Right, Ania."  
  
"But you ordered this when? It couldn't of gotten here overnight from Downstream.", she said, still taken.  
  
"I ordered it when I first called Downstream a few weeks ago. To say 'Thank you' to you for all that you have done for me. But over the weeks, well . . it just turned into something more than a small gesture.", he told her, almost meekly. Very out of character for the tough guy he were.  
  
She blushed at him as she placed one arm around his neck as she held the packet up against their chests. "You are so going to get lucky tonight !"  
  
He chuckled placing his casted hand on her waist and used his right hand to stroke her cheek. Will kissed her, gently on the lips. "I didn't do this for you to get 'lucky', Ania."  
  
"Uh-huh.", she whispered to him and then kissed him deeply and intensely to the point where he had to take a deep breath and swallow.  
  
"But as I can see, it definitely did not hurt my chances, though. Definitely not !"  
  
She smiled at his comment as he pecked her on the lips one last time.  
  
As they started off again to the hospital, Will looked at her as he took her left hand into his right hand and asked, "What if Helen says that I have to stay at the hospital tonight ?"  
  
"I'll stay with you. I am still your aide, Tasker."  
  
He gave her a devilish smirk and said, "I have never known to receive that kind of treatment in any hospital that I have been in but I am so happy I was admitted into this one ! I love the service !"  
  
Ania shook her head at him as they both chuckled.  
  
___________________  
  
20 minutes later, when they walked into the main double doors of the hospital, all the staff paused and looked at the two individuals. Dora sat behind the registration desk with a look on her face that could have stopped the 'stream winds, altogether. Thank goodness there weren't many people were in the emergency room due to everyone being prepared for the Slipstream storm that had passed through over the past three and a half days.  
  
"Morning.", Will said with a smirk to them as he placed his hand at the small of Ania's back and gave her a slight nudge which started them off down the hall towards Helen's office.  
  
They responded with 'Good Morning' back at the two.  
  
Since the moment some of the nurses had saw Will walk out of the hospital, completely dressed, and towards the Plateau Abodes where Ania had lived, 10 minutes after she had left for the night, the rumor mill had been burning up !  
  
When he didn't show back up that night as the Slipstream storm had gotten worse, Helen knew exactly where Will had disappeared to and that she wasn't going to worry about him. But the message that she recieved from Ania a few hours later, confirmed Will's whereabouts and in he and Ania's relationship. Seeing how they had been getting along extremely well over the past two and a half months, it would of been just a matter of time when either the two would advance their relationship or just remain the friends they had became.  
  
Dora, Ania's known foe in the hospital, asked Helen did she find it acceptable that Ania had gotten personal with a patient. Helen told her that Ania was a grown woman and Will Tasker was a healthy grown man who was attracted to Ania due to how well she took care of him when he was unable to do so. Whatever blossomed between the two was either meant to be or just a temporary thing ! Either way, it was their business.  
  
___________________  
  
When her office door opened and she saw the two walk in, Helen couldn't help but smile at them.  
  
"Well ! I was wondering when you both would show back up here.", she said to him.  
  
"Actually, Helen, when you saw me leave here that afternoon as the storm was coming in, I was on my way to check on Ania. She was worried that someone was following her and come to find out, someone were.", he told the woman.  
  
The smile on Helen's face disappeared. "My goodness ! Ania, who was it ?"  
  
"Jacob.", she said, quietly.  
  
"Jacob ?"  
  
"When I had left here and arrived home, he had already gotten inside of my apartment and trashed my living room. Just as Will arrived, he ran out and off. So over the past three and a half days, Will stayed with me to make sure that he didn't return. Besides, Will would not of been up to making it's way back here with a weak left leg through the Slipstream storm.", Ania said as she removed her coat and sat down.  
  
"Dear God ! What on earth could posses Jacob to do such a thing ? He's usually so quiet and to himself."  
  
"It's always the quiet ones, Helen. He was reacting because of me. For some reason, Jacob feels that Ania could have a better life being with him than helping me recover and getting me back on my feet."  
  
Helen shook her head as Will removed his coat, feeling a slight ache in his left thigh.  
  
"Zerod made him go home and take a few days off. I really don't see how that is going to help. He has been stalking me for almost two weeks. I made it clear to him a while ago that I have no romantic interest in him. At all !", Ania said and then sighed, loudly. "Enough about him. I have something to show you, Helen."  
  
She was still a bit taken at what they had told her about Jacob but Helen turned her attention to what Ania had showed her as she stood and walked over to her.  
  
"What is this ?", the older woman asked.  
  
"It's the registration and entrance exam packet for the Registered Nurse exam which will be held in about two months Downstream.", Ania said with a proud smile.  
  
Helen's jaw gaped. "But how did you receive an up-to-date exam, study guides, and registration form, together ?"  
  
Ania pointed to Will as he sat down in the chair that was next to Ania's chair.  
  
"William ?", Helen said, more amused than anything.  
  
He smirked slightly and said, "When I first contacted my superiors Downstream, I sort of asked them for a favor that they owed me. I knew how much it would of meant to Ania. So to show her how thankful I were with all that she had done for me, I had them pull some strings and send this packet."  
  
"Now, if that isn't the most sweetest and thoughtful gesture ! You truly are the gentleman I knew you were to be.", she told him.  
  
Will just hid a blush by saying, "Well, my part is done. Now, she needs a certified Doc to administer her through the test."  
  
"Oh, well, yes ! I would like to think that I am a certified doctor. I didn't spend six years of my life Downstream studying and taking tests. Of course ! We can start this evening. And when the next passenger glider comes through, . . "  
  
"Ania and I will be on it. Instead of just sending the packet back through the mail, with the chance of it getting lost, I have to go Downstream and tie up loose ends there with my supervisors. So, I figured Ania could hand deliver the packet herself seeing that there will be another test two months from now. And she could stay there for the next two months, take the test and then come home a certified registered nurse."  
  
"Uh-huh. And will she be returning from Downstream, alone ?", Helen asked.  
  
She had to pry.  
  
Will sat back in his chair. "No. Once she takes her test, I should be finished tying up my loose ends. And we both will return here. Together."  
  
"I see." Helen said, slyly.  
  
Ania cleared her throat, a bit uncomfortable at the fact that they were talking about her even though she was sitting right there. "I need to get something to drink. My throat is a bit dry."  
  
She sat the packet down on Helen's desk and nearly stumbled as she walked out. Helen glanced at William, waiting to hear more on what he had planned on doing.  
  
"I have no intentions in hurting her, Helen. I really do care about her and I've decided that what happened to me was God's way of telling me that I'd better rethink my priorities. You can't catch every single bad guy there is without them trying to stop you from catching them with a gun or a knife."  
  
"What will you do here ?", she asked as she sat next to him.  
  
"Well, from what I understand, this Constable Gregors needs a good peacekeeper in his ranks.", he told Helen.  
  
She shook her head and said to Will, "We need to replace Gregors, altogether. He's a disgusting man who is so shady it's a wonder that the seedy parts haven't tried to overpower the much better parts of this town."  
  
"Hm. Then, that is something for me to consider. But don't worry about her, Helen. I will take care of her while she's Downstream. And I swear on my life which you and she saved, I will not let anyone get close enough to hurt her."  
  
Helen smiled and patted his cast. "I believe you, William. I believe you. And I think you should come with me so I can take an X-ray of that cast. When do you and Ania plan on leaving for Downstream ?"  
  
"A passenger glider will be coming through here and heading back Downstream five days from today. We are expected to be on that one."  
  
"Then I'd better make sure that she is situated and make sure she has enough for a ticket there and back. And enough money for when she's there."  
  
"Helen, I have already taken care of all of that.", he told her. "Trust me."  
  
He looked at the look on Helen's face. It made him blush and look away as she smiled at him. 'This was a man who didn't blush much, if at all, and didn't realize how much he now looked like a man on the verge of falling in love!' she thought.  
  
The door opened and Ania walked back in.  
  
Helen stood. She walked over to her desk and began to open the packet. "Ania, dear, you have to get a move on if you plan on catching that passenger glider in five days with a finished entrance exam. So, today is an off day for you, while you complete your registration forms and the written part of your entrance examination."  
  
"But I do get to work for the next four days, right ?", she asked as Helen handed her a folder of papers from the packet.  
  
"Of course, but you need to concentrate on your written essay, this evening."  
  
"Okay.", she told Helen.  
  
"In the meanwhile, you can take your patient up to his room and make sure that he has all of his things together for his discharge, this afternoon.", Helen then told her.  
  
"Huh ?", Ania said looking at William and then back at her.  
  
"Once I do an X-ray on William's cast here today, it may come off today or possibly while he's Downstream. But I have no reason to keep him here. Seeing that he is getting around just fine since his leg cast has come off, William is free to go. And seeing that he is a new resident, I will call Mr. Halls who runs that very clean and well kept inn, and have him place William in one of his best rooms."  
  
Ania cleared her throat again and said, "Oh. Okay."  
  
"Unless, that is, you would like for William to stay with you for the next few days until you both leave for the next two months on the passenger glider heading Downstream."  
  
Ania froze and then looked at Will. To Will, she looked so worried to be found out about the obvious. So he stood up and stepped up to Ania.  
  
Ania swallowed hard as she felt his hands on her waist. "What ?", she asked him in an almost whisper.  
  
"Ania, it's okay. Helen knows.", he said to her as he leaned his face towards hers.  
  
Still worried, Ania said, "She knows what ? Will, what are you . . . "  
  
Before she could try and retaliate, Will kissed Ania, lovingly, on the lips as he pulled her into his arms, completely. Helen smiled as she saw Ania not put up a fight and succumb to the man's kiss. She would of been a fool if she had tried to. From what she could see, William was an excellent 'wooer' when it came to kissing a woman !  
  
The door had opened while they were in mid-kiss and the doctor and aide who walked in, paused. The aide smiled as did the doctor, in surprize as their 'show' ended.  
  
The female aide said, "Well, that's nothing like the mouth to mouth that I learned to use on the patients."  
  
Will kissed Ania's forehead with a knowing smirk as Ania finally opened her eyes, touching the corners of her mouth with her fingers.  
  
"You and me both !", the aide heard Ania said.  
  
She sighed, deeply. as she looked up at Will. "Show off .", she whispered to him.  
  
Will just nodded once at her as he raised his eyebrows to her.  
  
Needless to say, word had got around the hospital before they had even made it up to Will's hospital room.  
  
___________________  
  
Helen ran an x-ray on Will's cast and saw that for safety reasons, Will should keep the cast on for another two weeks. By then, he and Ania would be Downstream and Will could have the cast removed at a hospital there.  
  
Will looked at Ania as she sat in a chair across from his bed, filling out her paperwork to register herself for her exam.  
  
"You know, for the past couple of days, you haven't written in your journal."  
  
Ania looked up from the guide at him and smirked. "Well, I have been quite busy over the past few days."  
  
He returned a smirk and said, "Granted. But can I ask you a question ?"  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"Did you write in your journal because you couldn't find someone to confide in?", he asked her and Ania paused looking at him.  
  
"I can confide in you.", she said, quietly.  
  
"And since you have, no journal.", he pointed out.  
  
"Point made.", she told him. "Hm. I guess now that I think about it, I truly didn't talk with many of the other aides here. I mean I've had lunch with them and we'd talk about certain things. But not personal things. Besides Helen, of course."  
  
"I'm flattered to be the only one you truly confide in."  
  
"Well, I had no choice, Tasker. One, you wouldn't stop reading my journal and two, well, you've seen me naked."  
  
"I'm extremely flattered about that !", he said with a smile and they both chuckled.  
  
After a few minutes, Will looked across at Ania and stood up. He walked over to her and sat next to her on the small two person chair. "I'll get a room at the inn. So I don't crowd you."  
  
"And I'll get a room when we go Downstream.", she told him.  
  
"No, you won't.", he told her.  
  
Ania paused and looked at him. "Stop that."  
  
"Stop what ?", he asked her.  
  
"Being demanding towards me."  
  
"Demanding towards you ?", he repeated.  
  
"Telling me what I am going to do. Where I'm going to stay.", she told him.  
  
Will paused for a second and looked at her, after putting his arm across the back of the two person chair they were sitting in.  
  
"Have I been doing that ?", he asked her.  
  
"'You, with me, will fly Downstream to take your test.' 'No you don't get a room when we go Downstream, together.' And what about just completely 'outing' us infront of Helen, Dr. Evers, and Tess ? I mean, you didn't even consult me before you had done it.", she told him.  
  
"Ania, I had no idea that doctor and nurse would walk in. Helen knew that there was something between us but when she brought it up, you looked like you had just been caught doing something that you were forbidden in doing. So, I just pushed it along. My place has two bedrooms Downstream. I just figure that you could save your money and stay in my guest bedroom. But you flying with me Downstream ? I was a bit demanding on that. But it's just that, I haven't been with a woman that I am so interested in many years. And after so many years of barking orders to Belitski and her not having a problem, I just have to remember that I'm with my lover now and not my bounty partner, anymore."  
  
"Hm.", she said to him. "I guess that was a feeble enough apology."  
  
Will smirked at Ania as she went back to filling out her papers. She then paused and looked over at him to see that he was watching her.  
  
"Will ?", she said, softly.  
  
"Hm ?", he said just as softly.  
  
"Are you sure that you are ready to give all of that up ? I mean, you have been doing it for 20 years. And something as intense like that, you just can't give up. It's become the way of life for you."  
  
He nodded and said, "I know. But now I feel that I want a new way of life."  
  
"Will ?", she started again.  
  
But he stopped her by holding up his hand. "Did you know that I'm going to be 45 in two months ?"  
  
"When I read your i.d. I found that out.", she told him.  
  
"I was so hellbent on taking out every bad guy that had ever crossed my path, I never stopped to consider what would I have if I ever was seriously injured or had finally decided to retire ? I would be an old bastard with money from what I saved from my bounties with a very empty two bedroom apartment to live in Downstream. I would probably get bored, head back out after a year or two of retirement, and try and start 'hunting' again. Go out there, get careless, and the next time, I won't be so lucky and get killed. I'm glad that this wake-up call happened. If it hadn't, we wouldn't be here, together. You wouldn't be filling out these papers for another few months after they finished with all of their legal mumble jumble crap Downstream. And I wouldn't be feeling like one of the most luckiest guys on the face of this crumbled up earth."  
  
After saying that to her, Will leaned over and kissed the tip of her nose as Ania smiled at him.  
  
"You are so getting lucky tonight ! Oh, well, not tonight but tomorrow night. I have to finish this written exam tonight.", she told him and he chuckled at her.  
  
She touched his knee. "But listen, I'm no fool and I know that living that way for more than twenty years, you can not just give it up, just like that."  
  
"Ania ?"  
  
"Will, . . ."  
  
Before they could start an actual argument, Will silenced her by kissing her, fully, on the lips. But it hadn't calmed her the way he had wanted it to, for the look on her face was quite serious.  
  
She sighed, apparently, and looked away from his concerned stare.  
  
Ania was that worried that he were going to leave her to keep carrying on bounty hunting.  
  
___________________  
  
She sat up for the majority of the evening while writing her essay final draft. She was so caught up over Will Tasker and he was doing the unimaginable for her. Helping her get Downstream. Letting her stay with him as she studied for her test. Getting her the entrance exam so she would be able to take the final exam. Returning back here to Currentburg Township with her.  
  
What was he looking to get out of all this ? He had told her that he cared about her and that he had wanted to change his life around and be with her.  
  
As much as she had wanted to truly believe every word he were telling her, Ania's mother and father taught her at an early age that you shouldn't believe everything that you are told. Especially by someone that you couldn't truly place your trust and heart into.  
  
Ania knew she cared about this man. But the thought of what he used to do and how he did it for so long, she knew that it would never leave him. He was a gung-ho type where he was determined to get his man. Or woman, if you saw it from her point of view as far as they had went. A die hard look would come over his face, that intense look, when he would look at her, before they had slept together for the first time. How he wanted her.  
  
Since their first night together, a softness would begin to blend in with his intense look. He would look at her, adoringly, as if he had longed to be with her all his life ! But the moment, bounty hunting came up in any of their conversations, a hardened look would cross his face as he thought about his past jobs. Then, either he would talk about it or her would inch away from the subject. Perfect case in point, he had kissed her before they would begin to argue back at the hospital earlier, trying to take her mind off of the obvious.  
  
What really bothered Ania was that, what if in the near future, they would get to the point where true emotions would be expressed and then he would step back and realize what was really going on, Will would get cold feet and run on her. Back to what he knew and were comfortable with.  
  
Losing love scared her. So, she wanted to be extremely careful who she gave her heart to. But seeing that they talked and had gotten to know one another for the past couple of weeks, they learned a number of things about one another. Likes and dislikes. He knew that she didn't want to be hurt. And Will had told her, repeatedly, over the past couple of days, since their fateful morning together, that he had no intention in hurting her. Her heart told her to trust him. But something in her told her to hold on until she was positively sure.  
  
Ania sighed as she placed her pen down as she sat at her kitchen table. She had finally gotten what she had wanted. Someone who would care about her. A guy of her choice to fall for her.  
  
But this was happening way too fast. Wasn't it ? It felt too right to be wrong.  
  
Maybe she should stay away from Will for a while. She was getting too attached. Too involved. Thinking of too many things all at once. She needed to concentrate on this, her Registered Nurse final exam and she needed to keep her mind on this essay.  
  
For right now.  
  
___________________  
  
Helen's friend, Mr. Halls, had set Will up in a very nice room in his inn. It was quiet and Will was positive that this inn was a bit more upscale than any inn he had stayed in over the years. Some didn't even have windows. This one did. And his window looked out over the majority of the town. And towards the east end of the large town, was where the lights were brightest this time of night and where the most noise was coming from. Nothing to call the law about but enough to raise an eyebrow.  
  
Will had already came to the conclusion that Currentburg Township was a town that was doing pretty well for themselves. They had their own farms on the outskirts along with produce and herd farms. Everyone seemed to have a bit of money and/or worked for it. He rarely saw anyone on the streets as far as homeless went. There was the seedy part of the town on the east end but they rarely reared their heads during the day and would party and drink at night like they were doing now. And surprizingly, Will noticed that the wild ones kept their place.  
  
Almost.  
  
There would be a robbery reported here or a mugging there. There was only one death reported last month. But this Constable Gregors was what had peaked Will's interest. He had introduced himself to Will the first day Ania had taken him out to get a few items for himself. From what Helen and Ania had told him and from what Will had seen on his own of Gregors, the man was a bit shady.  
  
He was sitting with Ania, having lunch with her in the diner that he had chose that first day out. They had already ordered their meals and were waiting for the food to arrive. Will had his first cup of coffee in weeks and Ania had a glass of water.  
  
When Will looked over Ania's shoulder and at the door of the diner, he saw a stout man walk in. His outfit was a bit dusty for it to be just the beginning of the afternoon but Will shrugged it off because what was more important was that the man had looked directly at him.  
  
For a brief minute, Will had wished that he had his gun at his side, in case this yahoo had any intentions on confronting him.  
  
Ania noticed the look on Will's face and she turned to see what had caught his eye. She then looked back at Will with a very grossed out look on her face. Will glanced at her and then looked back at the man.  
  
"Well, you finally get to meet Gregors.", she said quietly to him.  
  
Will frowned as he gave her a look. "You have got to be kidding me! Him ?!"  
  
She made an 'I told you so !' face.  
  
Gregors noticed that the young woman that was with the lawman had whispered something to him. He had seen the woman a few times at the local hospital. Sansweet. She was pretty and he could see why the lawman had found an attachment in her. But due to the look on her face, she had already knew what he was about and had no kind words to say about him for the lawman gave him another glance after the Sansweet woman said something to him. But then again, the only women who did give him a second look nowadays were the women on the east end of town.  
  
"Well, now! I see that our Downstream lawman is finally up and about.", he said as he walked up to their table.  
  
Ania didn't look up at him but she looked at Will to see that he had showed 'face' and stood up on his casted left leg and his right leg to greet the man, face to face. And he did it without stumbling and without much leverage from their table. She had went to say something to Will but decided not to for his sake in front of this pig of a man.  
  
"I'm 'about' the best way I can.", Will said in a voice that Ania hadn't heard him use since the moment he had awoken from his coma. Very defiant. "Will Tasker."  
  
"Constable Gregors. I've heard of you. You've been through here before, Mr. Tasker.", he told Will as if he didn't remember on his own.  
  
"That's right ! About 6 years back. Rounding up two bounties that were seen in the area at the time. I don't remember you being the local Constable then. Some guy by the name of 'Davenport'. Good man. Did he retire ?", Will asked more prying than curious.  
  
"No, unfortunatly, about five years ago, some young man came through here, hell bent on getting even with Davenport because something about his brother being killed Downstream by the law. He shot Davenport and Davenport shot him. Both died. Before Davenport died at the hospital from his wound, he appointed me the new Constable, seeing that I were there when that young man shot him.", Gregors told him.  
  
Will's eyebrows went up with interest. "Really ? Well, what was the young man's name who had done Davenport in ? I may of played an unfortunate part in all of this."  
  
Ania frowned as Will sat back down in his chair. He glanced at her as Gregors pulled up a chair from and empty table.  
  
"Oh ! Where are my manners ? This is Nurse Sansweet, she has been like my right hand since I arrived here. She told me that you had stopped by the hospital when I was first brought in almost two months ago."  
  
Gregors knew the woman didn't like him so he didn't pursue any conversation with her. He just nodded at her and then tipped his hat at her. "Ma'am ?"  
  
Ania gave him a forced smirk.  
  
"Let's see.", Gregors said, thinking back. "I believe that the young man's last name was Yearderly. That's right. Drew Yearderly."  
  
A sinking feeling settled in Will stomach as he nodded. "I believe that were the same last name of one of the two men that my partner and I had taken back Downstream."  
  
He looked at Ania to see the disappointment on her face. She swallowed and stood up. "If you'd excuse me, gentlemen, while you two are talking about things I do not wish to hear about, I'm going to go run a quick errand and I'll be back to enjoy my lunch when it arrives."  
  
"I apologize, Nurse Sansweet. You're right. This isn't something to discuss around a pretty lady like yourself. I'm sorry if I offended you and ruined your appitite.", he told her.  
  
Ania frowned as she pushed her chair in. "Constable Gregors, I work at the hospital. You know, the place where you and your men have sent a number of innocent bystanders over the past few years to be patched up from your carelessness and mistakes."  
  
"Mistakes do happen, Nurse Sansweet.", he told her with a smirk.  
  
"Oh, yeah. A mistake like, 'Oops ! I pushed this citizen to the ground while shielding them from the occasional bar fight that has broken out.' is what you are refering to. But what I am refering to is 'Oops ! We found these two dead bystanders behind Meck's Pub even though they were reported missing one week ago.' type of mistakes are what I'm used to seeing, Constable Gregors.", Ania told him as she folded her arms across her chest. "And I have seen much worst than that. But giving your reputation in this town, nothing you do or say can turn my stomach besides the fact that you are actually sitting here. Will ? I'll be back, once the air clears."  
  
With that, she walked out of the diner. Gregors seemed to ignore the sarcasm in the woman's voice and looked at Will, who still wore his best pokerface but with a slight smirk at what had just happened.  
  
"Women ! What can you do with them ?", Gregors said with a smile.  
  
Will shrugged. "She's a very strong woman, Constable. She certainly have no love for you or your men."  
  
"Some people just don't agree with my law keeping methods here in Currentburg Township. But no one has come up to my face and expressed their true dislike to me so, what can you do ? Right ?", he told Will.  
  
"And if they ever did ?", Will asked and Gregors' smile turned into a smirk.  
  
"Well, if they ever do, then I would gladly take suggestions on how to make this town a bit better. Or even better yet, I would gladly step aside and let them place who they would feel could do a better job of keeping those rowdy hoodlums on the east side in their place. Tsk ! It'll never happen."  
  
Will shook his head as he raised his coffee cup up to his mouth and said, "Well, never say never, Constable."  
  
Will smirked at how he handled the conversation those few weeks ago. Just to shake the man up to let him know that someone out there was looking over his shoulder and that if he didn't shape up, that someone will challenge his job away from him. Maybe or maybe not him.  
  
___________________  
  
As he finished opening the package that his supervisors had sent, besides Ania's RN exam stuff were a clip of money. Some money from his account. In an envelope was more money, sent from his supervisors, so he could pay the pilot of the passenger glider for passage home. Will was going to buy Ania's way to Downstream. He had planned to get his hands on another glider once back Downstream and fly them both back to Currentburg Township once Ania had taken her test. Two registered and lisensed handguns with ammunition with a new i.d. badge. And last but not least, a data card was in the package along with a pad to play it on.  
  
Once placing the card into the pad and punching in his identification number, Will heard the device whir and then began to hum as it showed him a three dimentional picture of one of his superviors. The one he were on a somewhat friend level with.  
  
"Well, well, Tasker ! After not hearing from you, we all had feared the worst. We were about to turn on your homing transplant and sent some of the trackers out to retrieve your body. If it were possible. We received your last report about those contrabanders who tried to ambush you guys. You did what you had to do, buddy ! The world is better off without them."  
  
Will sighed at what the man had said.  
  
"What I'm curious about is why didn't Belitski go look for your remains ? Just two months ago we received a call from her stating that she was retiring from her training position seeing that you were dead, yet you were alive and recouping just a few miles from where you both had last reported from. She seemed a bit whipped on another project of her own."  
  
That had made Will sit up. She was alive !? And she didn't come looking for him ?  
  
"That information you had requested on Robert Gregors. At first we weren't able to get anything on a 'Robert Gregors' with the description you gave us. But we found a 'Robbie Gregory' with the same description and boy, did you run across what we think to be a shapeshifter ! He has been in and out of trouble with the law since he was 12 years old. But somehow he manage to slip through and then disappeared."  
  
"Starting at 12, he was busted a few times doing five finger discounts and has spent brief time Downstream each time. At 18 years old, he was found on the scene of a double murder. Even though he said that he saw the whole thing happen and gave a detailed descreiption of what had happened, they were never able to finger him for any of it. Five years after the board here throws the case out, a deputy by the name of Wes Davenport from there Currentburg Township sent in a report to us. He had asked for a few more men to be sent out the township. The town was having a slight problem with the roughnecks. We sent out men. The town calmed. Davenport sent our men back and then did a town recuitment. Robbie Gregory wasn't among them."  
  
"Yeah. But I bet Robert Gregors were.", Will said to himself. "Shapeshifter."  
  
"No one has ever sent in an official report on your Gregors guy from the township but we do have a few individual complaints. Over a hundred to be exact. But when we sent out a guy to the area to ask questions, those 'said individuals' didn't want to talk. And according to our investigator, at the time, 'Deputy' Gregors made sure that he had a few of the men under him to keep a watchful eye on the proceedings."  
  
This went on for another minute how a group of mauraders had drifted into town and took up 'shop' on the east end. People told Gregors to put a leash on the situation or they would take drastic measures of their own and have him stripped of his position.  
  
"Gregors, from the last individual report, spends his nights out in the east end. His official way of keeping the peace. But the people are still unhappy with his work. But no one there have enough balls to step up and take the position from him."  
  
Will frowned as he sat back against the headboard of the bed he were sitting in. Then an idea hit him.  
  
___________________  
  
Ania had almost frowned as she heard the knock on her door. She placed her pen down, 3/4ths finished with her essay's final draft and looked at her watch. It was a quarter to nine. And she hadn't expected anyone. Well, then again, she had wanted to see a certain person but had told him to get his room at the inn.  
  
"Who is it ?"  
  
Tap-tap. Tap !  
  
If she weren't mistaken, after only hearing the knock twice, that was who she had wanted to see.  
  
She checked her hair in the mirror and then went to went to the door.  
  
"I thought you were going to stay at the inn tonight ?", she asked through the door.  
  
"I am going to go back to my room tonight. I just came over to ask you if you wanted to take a walk and have a drink ?"  
  
The door opened and Ania came face to face with Will.  
  
He was dressed in all dark clothing along with his long black leather coat. His blond hair combed back and he had trimmed his beard,neatly. He wore a nonchalant smirk on his face that turned into a happier smirk when he focused fully on her.  
  
"Hi.", he said to her.  
  
She smiled at him and moved away from the doorway. He slowly walked in and she closed the door.  
  
Will paused before completely walking past Ania and leaned over to her. Again, she smiled, leaned forward, and gave him a cute kiss on the lips as he touched her waist.  
  
"Mm.", he moaned to her as he turned her aloose. He raised his eyebrow and asked her, "Did you finish at least half of your essay ? I don't want to drag you away from it if you're not at least halfway finished with it. It's very important, you know."  
  
"I know how important it is. I've finished it and I have finished rewritting 3/4ths of it to give Helen in the morning. Now, what is this about a walk and a drink that you were inviting me to ?", she asked, folding her arms as he walked over to couch.  
  
"Well, I have to admit that I do have an alternative motive. I wanted to check out one of the bars on the east end of town. You know, see what kind of bad seedlings this town posess. Plus, I distinctivly remember you telling me that you had always wanted to go to one of those bars to sow your wild oates. And I don't trust any of those morons down there if you were to go venturing down there alone out of your curiosity. So, I thought of you, and how you wouldn't want me going down there by my mysterious lonesome with my cast and all. And, well, I didn't want you worrying about me, here, all by your lonesome. So, I got dressed and popped by here to see if you wanted to go with me."  
  
When Will looked up, he saw Ania walk back into the living room wearing her long dark olive colored coat that had reached her ankels, her hair was out of it's ponytail and down, and her lips that were bare were now in their beautiful maroon hue.  
  
As he stood, he told her, "Boy, do you know how to clean up, quick and nice ?!"  
  
That was when she noticed that he had a holstered gun at his side.  
  
"Thanks. Where's your cane?"  
  
"Didn't need it."  
  
"But will we need that ?", she asked nodding to the gun at his side.  
  
"I doubt it. But I don't want to take any chances putting your life at risk if it gets a little too rowdy before I can get you out of there.", he told her.  
  
Ania sighed as she fixed his collar up and brushed the lapel. "Promise me you won't use it.", she said softly but concerned.  
  
'I can't promise you that.', ran through his mind as he stroked her cheek with his gloved hand but he knew that was the last thing that she had needed to hear.  
  
"Ania, I promise not to use it. But if a guy tries to move up on you, I may have to flash it to scare them off.", he told her.  
  
And it made her smirk at him. "Always telling me what I want to hear ! Yeah, yeah, come on, Tasker !"  
  
Ania grabbed his arm and they walked out the door after he reached over and turned off the lights.  
  
"Now, who's being demanding ?", he asked her as they started down the walkway to the main road.  
  
______________________ 


End file.
